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FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Presentation Manager
and LAN Manager for OS/2

New Borland Turbos:
Debugger, Pascal, C

PLUS

Adobe Illustrator
Apple’s CD-ROM Drive
PC power protection
Super PC-Kwik/Spooler
PolyBoost II
Tickler/2

Toshiba color printer

o 440235 o

What it is—and isn’t
How it works
How you can use it

PRODUCT FOCUS

A McGRAW-HILL PUBLICATION

Dell’s System 310
Sprint

Amstrad and Epson
laptops

Mac Scanners
C.Talk

Turbo Prolog2.0

20 Affordable 80386s

$3.50 U.S.A./S4.50 IN CANADA
0360-5280

mmm

Breakpoints

loftcoI+
displaypj
men left

print
> s

void s
/* Set
i.

► int t|
do

Breakpoints

Stack

Log

Uatches

Uariables

Module... Alt-F3

File...

CPU

Dump

Registers
Numeric processor
User screen Alt~F5

colstart[col 1 = total:
total ♦= coluidthileftcol ♦ c|

while ((total <= 00) Aa (leftc
rightcol = leftcol ♦ col - 2;
printco1();

1-Help Esc-fthort

115

r far * 0000:0008
3 2B944L

ased on the value of leftcol

Log

Stopped at _main
Stopped at HCALCII162

-Registers
ax 7110
hx 000F
cx 0000
dx 0800
si 0075
di B948
bp FFCC

; dump uatch uhvtnu to log
Watches

le.Ftco 1 »col-2 int 115

displayptr cliar far * 0000:0000

mem left long 209441.

Shown here are views of source code, CPU registers, watch expressions, and a session log.

What started modestly enough in
November of 1983 with the launch of
Borland’s first program, Turbo Pascal®
1.0, became a revolution and it’s been
going like a rocket ever since.

We’ve changed the way you program.

We invented integrated environments
with Turbo Pascal and we brought them
to all our languages. Borland continues
to bring you the best programming tools
in the world.

New! Turbo Assembler &

Turbo Debugger

Two state-of-the-art development tools
in one package for only $149.95.

New Turbo Debugger®
debugs all sizes

With EMS support, remote debugging,
and 386 virtual machine debugging,
there's no limit to the size of program
you can debug. In fact with 386 virtual
machine mode, debugging takes zero,
bytes of conventional memory!

See what’s happening

Overlapping windows give you multiple
views of the program you’re debugging:
source code, variables, CPU registers,
call stack, watches, breakpoints, memory
dump, and more. And a new “session¬
logging" feature tracks and records your
every move.

You’re in control

Our breakpoints give you more control
than anyone else’s. Ordinary debuggers
only get you to a stop, then they stop.
When our breakpoints are triggered
you can simply stop, or you can print
expressions, run code, send messages
to the session log, or even evaluate an
expression with user-defined function
calls. And all our breakpoints are
conditional.

Unique Data Debugging

Plain Vanilla debuggers can only give
you code debugging. Our new Turbo
Debugger give you data debugging too.
You can browse through your data from
the simplest byte to the hairiest data
structure, inspect arrays, and walk
through linked lists. All by point
and shoot.

Feature highlights

Breakpoints

■ Actions: stop, run code, log expression

■ Break on condition, memory changed

■ Software ICE capabilites

■ 386 debug register support

■ Support for hardware debuggers

Debug any program

■ Turbo Pascal, Turbo C, Turbo Assembler

■ EMS support

■ 386 virtual machine and remote machine
debugging

■ Supports CodeView' and .MAP-compatible
programs

Data Debugger

■ Follow pointers through linked lists

■ Browse through arrays and data structures

■ Change data values

New Turbo Assembler®
lets you write the tightest,
fastest code

Turbo Assembler is faster than other
assemblers, and you can use it on your
existing code. It’s fully MASM compat¬
ible, 4.0, 5.0, and 5.1; even MASM can’t
say that. Turbo Assembler takes you
beyond MASM, with significant new
Assembly language extensions, more
complete error checking, and full
386 support.

Turbo Assembler is designed for easy
interfacing with high-level languages like
Turbo Pascal and Turbo C. We use Turbo
Assembler on Quattro,® our best-selling
spreadsheet program; now you can write
your own best-seller with Turbo
Assembler!

Feature highlights

■ Faster than other assemblers

■ MASM compatible (4.0, 5.0, and 5.1)

■ Significant new assembly language
extensions

■ Easy interfacing with high-level languages
including Turbo C and Turbo Pascal

■ Full 386 support

TURBO DEBUGGER

TURBO

FEATURE COMPARISON

DEBUGGER

CodeView

Multiple overlapping views

Yes

386 virtual-86 mode debugging

Yes

Remote debugging

Yes

Data debugging

Yes

Partial

Generalized breakpoints

Yes

Session logging

Yes

Conventional memory used—80386

ZeroK

230K

Conventional memory used—remote

15K

N/A

Turbo Debugger version 1.0, Microsoft CodeView version 2.2.

TURBO ASSEMBLER

TURBO

Microsoft*

BGIDEM0 BENCHMARK

ASSEMBLER

Assembler

Assembly time (seconds)

9.34

27.46

Link time (seconds)

4.15

10.51

FEATURE COMPARISON

MASM compatible (4.0, 5.0, 5.1)

Yes

Thorough type checking

Yes

Nested structures and unions

Yes

Multimodule cross reference

Yes

Assemble multiple files

Yes

Run on IBM PS/2 model 60 using Turbo Assembler version 1.0, Turbo Linker version 2.0,

Microsoft Macro Assembler version 5.10, Microsoft Overlay Linker version 3.64.

lebugger, Turbo Pascal 5.0

New! Turbo C® 2.0 with
integrated source-level
debugger

New Turbo C 2.0 is the one C compiler
that does it all; nothing is half done or not
done at all—instead, your every program¬
ming need is met. We wrote our best-
selling word processor Sprint® with Turbo
C; now you can write your own best seller
with Turbo C 2.0.

At better than 16,000 lines a minute,*
Turbo C 2.0 compiles your code 20-30%
faster than its predecessor Turbo C 1.5
which was already faster than any other C
compiler.

Pro ject Options Debug

Edit Run

Compile

Break/uatch

Line 117b Col 13 Insert Indent Tab Fill
StatusLineC "Press any key to continue, ESC to

getuieusettingsC ftup )\

width = (vp.right - vp.left) s 15;

height. - Add Watch -

width * height

x = y =H-

color = l:

/■* get u
- t

-Irt

Beg i n|

Add watch Ctrl-F7

Delete watch

Edit watch

Remove all watches

Toggle breakpoint Ctrl-F8
Clear all breakpoints
View next breakpoint

I for( j=0

j<10

/■**■ For 10 rows of boxes

Tort i=0 J i<15 ; + *i K s* For 15 columns of boxes »/

setf i 1 lstyle( SOLID_FILL, color++ ); Set the color of box */

bar( x, y, x+width, y+height Draw the box */

x += widtli + l; Advance to next col

color - 1 + (color V. (MaxColors - 2)); Set new color

J End of COLUMN loop

-- Watch ---

, »•: -f left:!, top M3, right: 638, bottom: 336, olipM >

Fi-Help Esc-Abort

Make bugs bug off

Nice bugs are dead bugs, and Turbo C
2.0’s integrated source-level debugger
lets you find them and flatten them in a
flash. You can set multiple breakpoints,
watch variables and evaluate expres¬
sions—all from inside your integrated C
environment.

Minimum syslem requirements: For the IBM PS/2™ and the IBM®
lamily of personal computers and all 100% compatibles. PC-D0S
(MS-DOS) 2.0 or later. Turbo Debugger minumum 384K. Turbo
Assembler minimum 256K. Turbo C and Turbo Pascal minimum
448K (256K comment line version).

'Customer satisfaction is oui main concern, il within 60 days ol purchase this product does not per¬
form in accordance with our claims, call our customer service department, and we will arrange a
refund

Prices and specifications subject to change without notice.

Alt Borland products are trademarks or registered trademarks ot Borland International. Inc.

Other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks ot their respective holders
Copyright e 1988 Borland International. Inc Bl 1290

Debugging in the Turbo environment: shown here an expression is being added to the Watch
window in Turbo C. The Execution Bar highlights the next line the debugger will execute.

TURBO C 2.0

HEAPSORT BENCHMARK

TURBO C 2.0

Microsoft* C 5.1

.OBJ size (bytes)

843

945

.EXE size (bytes)

6896

7731

Execution time (seconds)

8.1

12.2

FEATURE COMPARISON

Integrated debugger

Yes

No*

Inline assembly

Yes

Auto dependency checking

Yes

EMS support for edit buffer

Yes

Device-independent graphics

Yes

Number of memory models

Price

$149.95

$450.00

Heapsort compiled with lull optimization. Benchmark run on an IBM PS/2 Model 60.
'Integrated debugger included with Quick C.

Turbo C and Turbo Pascal owners, upgrade now!
CALL (800) 543-7543

If you’re a registered Turbo C and/or Turbo Pascal owner, you can upgrade and get the
latest version of your favorite language, plus both Turbo Assembler and Turbo Debugger,
all at special upgrade prices. Whether you order by phone or mail, be sure to include
your old Turbo Pascal and/or Turbo C serial numbers and the code PL02.

Mail coupon to: Borland, Attn: Dept. PL02,1800 Green Hills Road,

P.0. Box 660005, Scotts Valley, CA 95066-0005.

UPGRADE OFFERS For registered Turbo Pascal* and Turbo C* owners!
(Unregistered owners, see below*)

Name

Shipping address

City Stale Zip

( _ ) _

Telephone

To qualify for the upgrade price you must give the serial number of the equivalent product you are upgrading.

Turbo Pascal Serial Number
Turbo C Serial Number

Upgrades for registered Turbo C and Turbo Pascal owners
Please check box(es)

1 □ Turbo C 2.0 Professional (Includes both Turbo Assembler and Turbo

Debugger)

2 □ Turbo Pascal 5.0 Professional (Includes both Turbo Assembler and

Turbo Debugger)

3 □ Turbo Pascal with 5.0 upgrade manual and disks

4 □ Turbo C with 2.0 upgrade manual and disks

Suggested

Upgrade

Retail

Price

250.00

99.95

250.00

99.95

N/A

49.95

N/A

49.95

Please specify diskette size: Either □ 5’/T OR □ 3V2*

Total product amount $

CA and MA residents add sales tax $

In US please add $5 shipping/handling for each product $

In Canada please add $10 shipping/handling for each product $

Total amount enclosed $

Payment: □ VISA □ MC □ Check □ Bank Draft Credit card expiration date:_/.

Name as it appears on card

•It you have not registered your Tubo Pascal or turbo C. you may qualify tor the special price by including you completed registration card with this coupon and payment. Otter good September 1 through November 30,1988. Coupon must be postmarked before December 15.1988
Otter good in U.S. aid Caiada onfy. This otter limited to one upgrade per valid product serial timber. Not good with any other otter from Borland. CODs and puchase orders will not be accepted by Borland.

Circle 37 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 38)

and Turbo C 2.0!

Shown here is the Evaluate/Modify window of Turbo Pascal: look at expressions, examine
structured data types, change variables on the fly.

Turbo C 2.0 has the best
of everything

■ Includes the compiler, editor, and
debugger, all rolled into one

■ Integrated source-level debugger
lets you step code, watch variables,
and set breakpoints

■ Develop and debug production-quality
code in all six memory models

■ Inline assembler support

■ Support for Turbo Assembler
and Turbo Debugger

■ Make facility with automatic
dependency checking

■ Over 430 library functions, including
a complete graphics library

■ Only $149.95

New Turbo C Professional

Turbo C 2.0 plus both Turbo Assembler
& Turbo Debugger: all three programs
rolled into one—the one C package that
has everything. A complete set ot tools
that caters to every level of program¬
ming expertise. Turbo C Professional:
$250. Includes coupon for free T-shirt
(while supplies last).

New! Turbo Pascal® 5.0 with
integrated source-level
debugger

Turbo Pascal, the worldwide favorite with
over a million copies in use, just got
even smarter. The best got better. Meet
Version 5.0. In a word, it’s revolutionary.

Not only do you go code-racing at
more than 34,000 lines a minute,* you
also now go into a sophisticated debug¬
ging environment—right at source level.

It’s completely integrated and bullet-fast.

Turbo Pascal’s new integrated
debugger takes you inside your code
for fast fixes. You step, trace, set multi¬
ple breakpoints. You modify variables as
you debug and watch full expressions
at runtime.

Separate Compilation

Break your code into units. Your separ¬
ately compiled units can be shared by
multiple programs and linked in a ftash
with Turbo Pascal’s built-in Make utility
and smart linker. We give you a powerful
library of standard units including the
spectacular Borland Graphic Interface
and our state-of-the-art overlay
manager.

Feature highlights

■ Includes the compiler, editor,
and debugger, all rolled into one

■ Integrated source-level debugger
lets you step code, watch variables,
and set breakpoints

■ Overlays, including EMS support

■ 8087 floating-point emulation

■ Support for Turbo Assembler
and Turbo Debugger

■ Procedural types, variables,
and parameters

■ Smaller, tighter programs: Smart Linker
strips both unused code and data

■ Constant expressions

■ EMS support for editor

■ Only $149.95

Debugging: The inside story

Turbo Pascal’s new integrated source-
level debugger takes you inside your
code to fix errors fast. Don’t worry
about errors, everyone makes them;
but with the right debugger, this one,
it's a fast fix.

Turbo Pascal Professional®

Turbo Pascal 5.0 plus both Turbo
Assembler & Turbo Debugger: all three
programs rolled into one—the one
Pascal package that has everything. A
complete set of tools that caters to
every level of programming expertise.
Turbo Pascal Professional: $250.
Includes coupon for free T-shirt
(while supplies last).

For the dealer nearest you
Call (800) 543-7543

TURBO PASCAL 5.0

TURBO

Turbo

SIEVE BENCHMARK

PASCAL 5.0

Pascal 4.0

.EXE size (bytes)

1440

1504

Execution time (seconds)

6.15

7.25

FEATURE COMPARISON

Integrated debugger

Yes

Overlays, including EMS support

Yes

8087 floating-point emulation

Yes

Turbo Debugger support

Yes

Procedural types, variables, parameters

Yes

Smart linking of code and data

Yes

Constant expressions

Yes

EMS support for editor

Benchmark (25 ileralions) run on an IBM PS/2 Model 60.

Yes

60-day money-back guarantee* BORLAND

Circle 39 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 40)

EVTE

OCTOBER 1988 VOL. 13/NO. 10

PRODUCTS IN PERSPECTIVE

67 What’s New
89 Short Takes

Toshiba 3-in-One P321SLC,

a color dot-matrix printer
Illustrator 88, PostScript
drawing gets better
AppleCD SC,
a new CD-ROM drive
Super PC-Kwik
and PolyBoost II,
two great caching programs
Tickler/2, a powerful
personal scheduler
Zortech Comm Toolkit,
some eye-opening programs

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Adobe Illustrator/89

194

101

Computing at Chaos Manor:

Stick Shift or Automatic?

by Jerry Pournelle

Jerry takes a look 201

at Windows and Sprint.

EXPERT ADVICE

151 Borland Beefs Up Its Languages

by Rick Grehan
and Tom Thompson
Turbo C and Turbo Pascal get
upgrades, but the big news is
an assembler and a debugger.

157 Presentation Manager
and LAN Manager

by Steve Apiki and Stanford Diehl
A graphical interface and network
support carry OS/2 well beyond
the traditional DOS environment.

REVIEWS

164 Product Focus:

80386s for the Masses

by Steve Apiki and Stanford Diehl
Twenty 80386-based clones
offering a revolutionary
feature—affordability.

119 Applications Plus:

Sprint with Caution

by Ezra Shapiro

Ezra tests Borland’s new

word processor. 209

129 Down to Business:

Be Secure, Not Sorry

by Wayne Rash Jr.

Your computers and data

need protection from

accidents and malice. 215

133 Macinations:

MS-DOS, MiniFans, Math,
and Mice

by Don Crabb

These tools make 223

the Mac a multifaceted

machine.

137 OS/2 Notebook:

The Good News 230

and the Bad News

by Mark Minasi

There’s a price to pay

for all OS/2’s features.

143 COM1:

Back to the Future Again

by Brock N. Meeks
Prodigy may be the
breakthrough computer
conferencing system.

Bucking the System

by John Unger
Dell’s System 310 provides
optimized performance
at a minimized price.

The Odd Couple

by Wayne Rash Jr.

The Amstrad PPC640
and the Epson Equity LT
have little in common
beyond portability.

Bringing the Outside World
into a Macintosh

by Laurence H. Loeb
A look at five low-end
scanners that bring text and
graphics to the Mac.

Smalltalk a la C

by Namir Clement Shammas
C_Talk provides
powerful object extensions
to C in a Smalltalk-like
environment.

Turbo Prolog Revisited

by Alex Lane
Version 2.0 is a cut above
the original version
with enhanced database
and graphics features.

D the Data Language

by Pam Oppenheim
An alternative to dBASE
for developing
custom applications.

Suit Yourself with Sprint

by Lamont Wood
A high-end word processor
that you can customize.

Review Update

2 BYTE

OCTOBER 1988

IN DEPTH

234 Introduction: Hypertext

237 A Grand Vision

by Janet Fiderio
After 43 years, hypertext
applications are coming out
of research labs and into
the market.

247 From Text to Hypertext

by Mark Frisse
Convert on-line printed
documents into hierarchically
structured hypertext.

255 The Right Tool for the Job

by Michael L. Begeman
and Jeff Conklin
Hypertext offers an
ideal model for the systems
design process.

268 Hyper Activity

Hypertext products, services,
and information.

FEATURES

270 PC Power, Part 1:

Power Protection

by Mark Waller
Just what do those power
protection devices do,
and how well do they do it?

Hypertext/235

ESHHH

6 Editorial: The Russians
Are Coming
11 Microbytes
22 Letters
33 Chaos Manor Mail
38 Ask BYTE
50 Book Reviews
339 Coming Up in BYTE

READER SERVICE

338 Editorial Index by Company
340 Alphabetical Index to Advertisers
342 Index to Advertisers by Product
Category

Inquiry Reply Cards: after 344

PROGRAM LISTINGS

From BIX: see 232
From BYTEnet:
call (617) 861-9764
On disk or in print:
see card after 312

HANDS ON

283 Ciarcia’s Circuit Cellar:

A Supercomputer, Part 1

by Steve Ciarcia
Steve discusses the basics
of multiprocessing.

293 Some Assembly Required:
Floating-Point without
a Coprocessor, Part 2

by Rick Grehan
Getting numbers to and from
a binary floating-point
mathematics package.

PC Power Protection/270

BYTE (ISSN 0360-5280) is published monthly with an additional issue in
October by McGraw-Hill Inc. Postmaster: Send address changes, USPS
Form 3579, undeliverable copies, and fulfillment questions to BYTE
Subscriptions, P.O. Box 7643, Teaneck, NJ 07666-9866. Second-class
postage paid at Peterborough, NH 03458 and additional mailing offices.
Postage paid at Winnipeg, Manitoba. Registration number 9321. Printed in
the United States of America.

Not responsible for lost manuscripts or photos. Opinions expressed by the
authors are not necessarily those of BYTE.

Copyright © 1988 by McGraw-Hill Inc. All rights reserved. Trademark
registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Subscription questions or problems should be addressed to:
BYTE Subscriber Service, P.O. Box 7643, Teaneck, NJ
07666-9866.

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 3

BVTE

EDITOR IN CHIEF PUBLISHER/GROUP VICE PRESIDENT

Frederic S. Langa J. Burt Totaro

OPERATIONS

Glenn Hartwig Associate Managing Editor

REVIEWS (Hardware, Software, Product Focus)

Cathryn Baskin Associate Managing Editor, Dennis Allen
Senior Technical Editor, Software, Stephen Apiki Testing
Editor, BYTE Lab, Stanford Diehl Testing Editor, BYTE Lab

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Horace T. Howland Director, Pamela Petrakos-WiIson
Promotion Manager, Wilbur S. Watson Marketing Services
Manager, Dawn Matthews Public Relations Manager, Lisa
Jo Steiner Marketing Assistant, Stephanie Warnesky
Marketing Art Director, Sharon Price Associate Art Director,
Julie Perron Market Research Analyst

ADVERTISING SALES

Dennis J. Riley Director, (603) 924-9281

Sandra Foster Administrative Assistant

NEW ENGLAND

ME, NH, VT, MA, Rl, ONTARIO, CANADA &
EASTERN CANADA
JohnC. Moon (617) 262-1160

NEWS AND TECHNOLOGY (Mlcrobytea, What’a New, Short Takes)

Rich Malloy Associate Managing Editor, D. Barker Senior
Editor, News and Technology, Anne Fischer Lent Senior
Editor, New Products

Peterborough: Roger Adams Associate News Editor, David
Andrews Associate News Editor, Martha Hicks Associate
News Editor

West Coast: Gene Smarte Bureau Chief, Costa Mesa,
Nicholas Baran Technical Editor, San Francisco, Frank
Hayes Associate News Editor, Marlene Nesary Associate
News Editor, Jeffrey Bertolucci Editorial Assistant, San
Francisco

SENIOR TECHNICAL EDITORS

Ken Sheldon Features, Jane Morrill Tazelaar In Depth,
Richard Grehan At Large, Tom Thompson At Large

PLANNING AND RESEARCH

Michele Perron Director

Faith Kluntz Copyrights Coordinator, Cynthia Damato
Sands Reader Service Coordinator

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Philip L. Penny Director of Finance and Services, Kenneth
A. King Business Manager, Christine Monkton Assistant,
Marilyn Haigh, Diane Henry, JoAnn Walter, Jaime Huber

CIRCULATION

Dan McLaughlin Director

James Bingham Newsstand Sales Manager, Vicki Weston
Assistant Manager, Karen Desroches Distribution
Coordinator, Donna Healy, Direct Accounts Coordinator,
Louise Menegus Back Issues

TECHNICAL EDITORS

Janet J. Barron, Janet Fiderio, Jon Udell, Stanley Wszola

ASSOCIATE TECHNICAL EDITOR

Robert Mitchell
CONSULTING EDITORS

Steve Ciarcia, Jerry Pournelle, Ezra Shapiro, Don Crabb,
Brock N. Meeks, Mark Minasi, Wayne Rash Jr.

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Jonathan Amsterdam Programming Projects, Mark
Dahmke Video, Operating Systems, Mark Haas At Large,
Rik Jadrnicek CAD, Graphics, Spreadsheets, Robert T.
Kurosaka Mathematical Recreations, Alastair J. W. Mayer
Software, Stan Miastkowski New Technology, Alan R.
Miller Languages and Engineering, Dick Pountain
Algorithms, Roger Powell Computers and Music, Phillip
Robinson Semiconductors, Jon Shiell High-Performance
Systems, Ernest Telk) Artificial Intelligence

PERSONNEL

Patricia Burke Personnel Coordinator, Beverly Goss
Receptionist

BUILDING SERVICES

Tony Bennett Manager, Cliff Monkton, Mark Monkton,
Agnes Perry

BIX

BYTE INFORMATION EXCHANGE

DIRECTOR

Stephen M. Laliberte

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

George Bond

ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Tony Lockwood

COPY EDITORS

Lauren Stickler Chief, Susan Colwell, Judy Connors-
Tenney, Jeff Edmonds, Nancy Hayes, Cathy Kingery,
Margaret A. Richard, Warren Williamson

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS

Peggy Dunham Office Manager, Linda C. Ryan, June N.
Sheldon, Lynn Susan Valley

MICROBYTES DAILY

D. Barker Coordinator, Peterborough, Rich Malloy New
York, Gene Smarte Costa Mesa, Nicholas Baran San
Francisco, Rick Cook Phoenix, Frank Hayes San Francisco,
Jason Levitt Austin, TX, Larry Loeb Wallingford, CT, Brock
N. Meeks La Mesa, CA, Stan Miastkowski Peterborough,
Wayne Rash Jr., Sue Rosenberg Washington, DC, David
Reed Lexington, KY

ART

Nancy Rice Director, Joseph A. Gallagher Assistant
Director, Jan Muller Assistant, Alan Easton Technical Artist

PRODUCTION

David R. Anderson Director, Virginia Reardon
Senior Editorial Production Coordinator, Denise Chartrand
Editorial Production Coordinator, Michael J. Lonsky
Editorial Production Coordinator

GROUP MODERATORS

David Allen Applications, Frank Boosman Artificial
Intelligence, Leroy Casterline Other, Marc Greenfield
Programming Languages, Jim Howard Graphics, Gary
Kendall Operating Systems, Steve Krenek Computers,
Brock N. Meeks Telecommunications, Barry Nance New
Technology, Donald Osgood Computers, Sue Rosenberg
Other, Jon Swanson Chips

TYPOGRAPHY

Sherry Fiske Systems Manager, Donna Sweeney
Applications Manager, Christa Patterson

ADVERTISING/PRODUCTION (603) 924-6446

Lisa Wozmak Director, Lyda Clark Senior Account
Coordinator, Karen Cilley, Linda Fluhr, Jeanne Gatcombe,
Brian Higgins, Rod Holden, Wai Chiu Li Quality Control
Manager, Julie Murphree Advertising/Production
Coordinator

BUSINESS AND MARKETING

Patricia Bausum Secretary, Denise A. Greene Customer
Service, Brian Warnock Customer Service, Tammy Burgess
Customer Credit and Billing

TECHNOLOGY

Clayton Lisle Director, Business Systems Technology,

MHIS, Jack Reilly Senior Business Systems Analyst, Bob
Dorobis Business Systems Analyst, Fred Strauss Senior
Business Systems Analyst

ATLANTIC

NY, NYC, CT, NJ (NORTH)

Leah G. Rabinowitz (212) 512-2096
(203) 968-7111

EAST

PA, KY, NJ (SOUTH), MD, VA, W.VA,

DE, DC

(215) 496-3833
SOUTHEAST

NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, TN
Thomas Tolbert (404) 252-0626

MIDWEST

IL, MO, KS, IA, ND, SD, MN, Wl, NE, IN, Ml, MS, OH
Bob Denmead (312) 751-3740

Jennifer L. Bartel West Coast Sales Manager, (214) 644-mi

SOUTHWEST, ROCKY MOUNTAIN
CO, WY, OK, TX, AR, LA
Karl Heinrich (713) 462-0757

SOUTH PACIFIC

SOUTHERN CA, AZ, NM, LAS VEGAS
Jack Anderson (714) 557-6292
Tom Harvey (213) 480-5243

NORTH PACIFIC

HI, WA, OR, ID, MT, NORTHERN CA, NV (except
LAS VEGAS), UT, WESTERN CANADA
Mike Kisseberth (415) 362-4600
Bill McAfee (415) 349-4100

TELEMARKETING

L. Bradley Browne Director
Susan Boyd Administrative Assistant

BYTE BITS (2x3)

Dan Harper (603) 924-6830

THE BUYER'S MART (1x2)

Mark Stone (603) 924-3754

REGIONAL ADVERTISING SECTIONS
MID-ATLANTIC, METRO NY & NEW ENGLAND,
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Elisa Lister (603) 924-6830

MIDWEST, PACIFIC NORTHWEST,

METRO NY & NEW ENGLAND
Scott Gagnon (603) 924-6830

SOUTHEAST, SOUTHWEST
Denise Vernier (603) 924-9281

BYTE DECK MAILINGS
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4 BYTE • OCTOBER 1988

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OCTOBER 1988 • BYTE 5

EDITORIAL ■ Fred Langa

The Russians
Are Coming

And they’re looking
to do business with
some very interesting
software

O n a steamy Friday in New York
late last summer, some mem¬
bers of BYTE’s staff met with a
group of senior Soviet com¬
puter scientists. The purpose was to
learn about the state of the art in Russian
computer technology and to see demon¬
strations of IBM PC AT-based software
that they hope to export to the West.

Almost the entire Soviet delegation
was made up of members of the USSR
Academy of Sciences. Attendees in¬
cluded Boris Batalov, head of the Scien¬
tific Research Institute; Lev Bogdanov,
chief of the Department of Applied Phys¬
ics and Mathematical Sciences for the
Presidium; Vadim Kotov, deputy direc¬
tor of the Siberian Computer Center; and
Alexander Vasenkov, head of the State
Committee for Computer Technology.

Their software demonstration is a self¬
running “film” (their word)—sort of a
Dan Bricklin-like demonstration: a fast-
moving, sound-and-color canned presen¬
tation of mock-up screens that are meant
to reflect the actual product. Lots of col¬
ored windows pop up everywhere, with
native Russian explanations of what’s go¬
ing on translated (and, sometimes, con¬
fusingly transliterated) into English. In
all, it’s very interesting.

The demonstration includes a power¬
ful equation solver; a simpler, for-fun
program for solving mathematical puz¬
zles; a database you can query in natural
language to find out (using their exam¬
ples) when Good Night , Little Ones is
playing on State TV; a time planner/proj¬
ect management package (interestingly,
they call it “plan” management); a mac¬
roeconomics modeler (their demonstra¬

tion actually models the Russian State
economy through the year 2000); and
lots of information on the expert-system
technology they used to construct these
programs from “modules.”

Vadim Kotov, who did most of the
talking for the group, stressed that their
system was not just a set of tools, but a
“factory” of interconnected applications
that can be used to create complex pro¬
grams in a very short time.

It all looks very flexible and modular;
it’s written in a powerful hybrid of Pro¬
log and Smalltalk—sort of an object-
oriented Prolog.

The whole demonstation is clever,
flashy, and unabashedly commercial—
they’re looking for American companies
to market their “software factory” tech¬
nology. (And vice versa: DataEase Inter¬
national set up their visit to the United
States and as a result will be selling a
database program in Russia.)

Because the demonstration software
gives a glimpse into a heretofore largely
unknown portion of the microcomputing
community, we’ll make the program
available in the listings area of BIX so
you can see it for yourself: Look for
RUSSIAN 1 .ARC, RUSSIAN2.ARC,
and RUSSIAN3.ARC in the FromBYTE
area. You’ll need a computer with EGA
to see all the demonstration, although
some parts of it will work on mono¬
chrome systems.

We also saw another program sepa¬
rately demonstrated: Lexikon is a Rus¬
sian word processor similar to WordStar
but not a clone. Kotov said he was partic¬
ularly proud of the thesaurus included
with this product; Russian uses a number
of declensions, so a thesaurus has to be
clever to work well.

Kotov’s group has been busy. For ex¬
ample, it designed the typesetting system
for Pravda (with a circulation of 10 mil¬
lion, it’s one of the world’s largest publi¬
cations). The Pravda system uses multi¬
processing, and it has a “flat” structure
(i.e., one layer of modules rather than a

hierarchy of modules and submodules).

Kotov’s group also recently designed
the first Soviet 32-bit microcomputer: It
looks more like a PDP-1140 than a desk¬
top system. At its heart is a basic multi¬
processing chip with reduced-instruc-
tion-set-computer-like architecture. The
processor is “something like a Trans¬
puter,” but they do not use Occam, the
multiprocessing programming language
developed for the Transputer by INMOS.
Nor do they use the asynchronous com¬
munication bus developed by INMOS.
Instead, they use a FIFO synchronous
channel.

By coincidence, we had brought along
a Definicon two-Transputer board to
show them; the chips occupied barely
half of one AT-style card. Kotov said the
equivalent Soviet silicon and support cir¬
cuitry would fill a volume about half that
of an entire AT system .

One of the Russians mentioned that
there were 200,000 personal computers
in the Soviet Union, most of them Rus¬
sian-made clones of the IBM PC and AT.
They would like to buy or build 80386-
based systems, but the most advanced
chip that can be legally sold to them is an
80286 running at 12.5 MHz or slower.

The most popular programming lan¬
guage in the Soviet Union is C, followed
by Pascal and Modula-2. The Soviets use
C primarily under the Unix operating
system.

Most computers are in offices, but a
small number of programmers are able to
take their computers home to work there.

Because of a shortage of Western cur¬
rency, most Soviet institutions get only
one copy of BYTE, which goes in the li¬
brary. When the issue arrives, Kotov
says, a line of people forms to sign up to
read it. Kotov says he and his colleagues
refer to the magazine as “PlayBYTE, be¬
cause it has so many interesting things to
look at.”

—Fred Langa
Editor in Chief
(BIXname “flanga”)

6 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

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Microbytes

Staff-written highlights of developments
in technology and the microcomputer industry

Language Lets Anyone Do Windows, Develop Programs
with Modern Look, Graphics Interface

D evelopers at Carnegie-
Mellon University in
Pittsburgh say they’ve got a
computer language that will
let nonprofessional pro¬
grammers write programs
that use those hot graphics-
oriented features characteris¬
tic of today’s operating sys¬
tems, such as windows, pull¬
down menus, and multifont
text. The language is cT,
short for CMU Tutor. Tu¬
tor was originally part of the
PLATO educational system
at the University of Illinois,
but according to Bruce
Sherwood, associate director
of Carnegie-Mellon’s Cen¬
ter for the Design of Educa¬
tional Computing and one
of cT’s developers, this new
language goes far beyond
the original.

The language is “really
designed for any kind of
computer programming, in¬
cluding research computing.
It’s a general-purpose lan¬
guage for any situation where
you’re going to have a mod¬
ern user interface,” Sher¬
wood said. It’s also highly
machine-independent, he
said, because cT implemen¬
tations are designed for font
and graphics rescaling; the
same cT source code will run
on a Mac, a Sun, an IBM
RT PC, and a micro VAX—
and on most of those ma¬
chines, Sherwood said, cT is

Texas Instruments

I n the chip-making busi¬
ness, silicon and gallium
arsenide (GaAs) are like
water and oil—they just don’t
mix. The standard ways to
make chips from each sub¬
stance are almost com¬
pletely incompatible; silicon

the only language that lets
ordinary people program
using graphics and multi¬
font text.

“One way of describing
Tutor languages is to say that
their goals and methods are
reminiscent of a very good
BASIC,” Sherwood said,
but cT begins “from the ex¬
pectation that you’re writ¬
ing a program for somebody
else to use.” For example,
Tutor’s input statement lets
the program not only get in¬
put from the user, but also
make sure it’s the right
kind of input. “The program¬
mer doesn’t have to do all
the analysis to make the va¬
lidity checks. You’re en¬
couraged to look,” Sherwood
said.

“There are five things
any language has to do. Cal¬
culate, display, sequence,
analyze input, and read and
write files. Where cT is
strong is display, sequence,
and analysis.”

A cT program consists of
a set of root-level procedures
called “units”; these can
accept parameters by value
or address and return a re¬
sult. Units are linked with
the commands next and
previous: A user can pull
down a menu and click on
previous and review the pre¬
vious unit. “With Tutor-
class languages, a program is

chips use TTL-level inputs
and outputs, for example,
while GaAs typically runs
at microwave frequencies.

It’s only recently that one
company, Gazelle, has created
a GaAs chip that can be used
in conjunction with conven-

really a whole archipelago
of these unit islands, and
there are some interesting
structures between the is¬
lands,” Sherwood said.

Source and execution
windows are both active; be¬
cause fonts and graphics
can be scaled, you can see a
miniature version of your
execution window if you like.
A programmer can select a
source-code coordinate by
clicking the mouse at a
point in the execution win¬
dow. There’s also an on¬
line reference manual, com¬
plete with working
examples that you can cut
and paste into the source
window and execute. “It’s a
fabulous situation for pro¬
gramming by example,”
Sherwood said.

At Carnegie-Mellon, cT
has been in use for a year,
but it’s only now becoming
commercially available. The
Macintosh version, which
runs on the Mac Plus, the
Mac SE, or the Mac II, is
$92.50 from cT Distribution,
Center for the Design of
Educational Computing,
Carnegie-Mellon Univer¬
sity, Pittsburgh, PA 15213,
(412) 268-5638. An IBM
PS/2 version will follow
shortly, and a Unix version
(running under X-Windows)
should be available later
this year.

tional silicon chips.

But Texas Instruments
researchers have now demon¬
strated the first ICs that
contain both silicon and
GaAs transistors on the
same piece of silicon. Ac-
continw

NANOBYTES

• “Computer Chip
Saves Nation from Attack
of Killer Bees.” We
might be seeing that
headline sometime in
the future if researchers
at a Martin Marietta lab
in Oak Ridge, Tennessee,
succeed in a project that
will use a chip to track
the infamous killer
bees. The device, which
a spokesperson said
weighs “about as much as
a grain of salt,” will
transmit an infrared sig¬
nal that can be picked
up as far as a mile away.
Researchers, who want
to monitor the mating and
foraging habits of the
aggressive creatures, have
managed to glue the
chips to captured bees,
and the bees have been
able to fly with the chips
stuck to their bellies.

The engineers hope to
have a working trans¬
mitter by next year. The
deadly buzzers are pro¬
jected to cross the Texas
border into the U.S. in
the next few years.

• The new MathStation
program from MathSoft
(Cambridge, MA) not
only cuts coding chores
but also lets you laser-
print a screenful of equa¬
tions and formulas and
get a page that looks like
it came from a typeset
textbook. The program,
which is an interesting
combination of page-lay¬
out and equation-solving
software, converts the
material on screen (dis¬
played in WYSIWYG
style) to PostScript.

You control the fonts
and spacing. But the pro-

continued

Mixes GaAs and Silicon on Same Chip

OCTOBER 1988 • B Y T E 11

MICROBYTES

NANOBYTES

gram also parses and
compiles the equations
you input, using the
host system’s FORTRAN
compiler. MathStation,
which company VP and
MathCAD creator Allen
Razdow said is based on
the concept of an incre¬
mental compiler, inter¬
prets equations as math¬
ematical objects and
generates executable
FORTRAN code, which
can be used in other ap¬
plications. Any equation
can be converted into a
FORTRAN77 routine, he
said, freeing the user
from such chores as cod¬
ing and debugging. Al¬
though the first version
($9500 per license) runs
only on Sun 3 and 4
workstations, the com¬
pany intends to do an edi¬
tion for the Sun 386i. A
Mac II version will have
to wait until the ma¬
chine supports X-Win-
dows, Razdow said.

• Despite U.S. software
companies swooping like
Chuck Norris into Far
East countries where pi¬
racy is said to be ram¬
pant, the problem of ille¬
gal copying is probably
going to get worse, says
one attorney who has
studied the problem. You
can go to Hong Kong
and get Lotus 1-2-3,
dBASE, Word, or other
programs for about $6 a
package, Los Angeles
lawyer Mike Scott told us
after a fact-finding mis¬
sion to Hong Kong and
China, neither of which
has laws protecting soft¬
ware copyrights. Soft¬
ware pirating is worse in
Hong Kong, where it’s
an industry controlled by
organized crime, he
said. Customers from the
U.S., Australia, and
Singapore buy suitcases
full of software, Scott
said. And a contact in

continued

cording to Hisashi Shichijo,
who developed the new pro¬
cess along with Richard
Matyi, “This means we can
take advantage of the merits
of gallium arsenide and sili¬
con on the same chip.”

Shichijo said the new
process is significantly more
complicated than the Ga¬
zelle approach, which will
allow designers to mix
GaAs and silicon chips on the
same circuit board. The
new TI process mixes the
materials on the same chip.
“A chip designer tradition¬
ally has to choose between
the two,” Shichijo said.
“Gallium arsenide is faster,
but it has problems—it’s
small, it’s fragile, it
breaks, it has defects—so it’s
not possible to build large-
scale circuits. What we’ve
done is to deposit localized
gallium arsenide films on a
silicon substrate, so you can
add GaAs devices or circuits
to silicon circuits.”

This makes large-scale
GaAs circuits practical, but

T he new DCA/Intel
Communicating Appli¬
cations Specification
(CAS), put into the public do¬
main in August, could sim¬
plify electronic com¬
munications if enough
hardware and software ven¬
dors use it to develop com¬
munications interfaces for
use in their applications.

CAS is a specification for
writing code that intermedi¬
ates between an application
and a communications ser¬
vice. Using CAS, applica¬
tions can transparently direct
output to the communica¬
tions device in much the
same way that data is trans¬
parently sent to a printer.

The initial release of CAS
supports communications
only via facsimile modem
hardware (such as Intel’s new
Connection Coprocessor).

because the silicon and
GaAs circuits can be mixed
on a chip, large-scale GaAs
won’t usually be necessary,
Shichijo said. “You can put
the GaAs where you’d really
like to have speed, and use
silicon for the rest of it. ” For
example, silicon memory
could incorporate GaAs con¬
trol logic for better re¬
sponse time; a dense silicon
microprocessor might have
an integrated GaAs register
file or cache.

In developing the GaAs-
on-silicon epitaxial growth
technique, the TI research¬
ers aimed to develop a pro¬
cess that could be applied
directly to high-volume pro¬
duction. According to Rich¬
ard Matyi, “Because silicon
processing is extremely sen¬
sitive to the presence of
impurities—and GaAs essen¬
tially represents an impur¬
ity—we completed silicon
processing before we added
the GaAs. And although it
would have been simpler to
grow the GaAs atop the sili-

However, subsequent re¬
leases will support Hayes-
compatible modems and
PC-mainframe communi¬
cations boards.

A software developer can
use the CAS to write a com¬
munications program,
which can be integrated with
the primary application.
Symantec has already inte¬
grated CAS functions with
its Q&A software, allowing
Connection Coprocessor
users to transparently send
Q&A files to other fax ma¬
chines by selecting a menu
option from within Q&A.
Other software vendors, such
as WordPerfect, Borland,
Lotus, and Ashton-Tate, said
that they will support the
CAS.

The CAS consists of two
hardware-independent soft¬
ware components. The Res¬

con in layers 2 to 3 micro¬
meters thick, we decided to
embed the GaAs islands in
the wafer to produce a copla-
nar surface. Devices with
such flat surfaces are easier
and more cost-effective to
manufacture in high volume,
and they’re more reliable.”

Shichijo said GaAs opti¬
cal devices, such as lasers,
could be included on silicon
chips to speed up chip-to-
chip communication by a
factor of 10. To demonstrate
the new chip, the research¬
ers produced several ring os¬
cillators that mixed silicon
CMOS and GaAs metal
semiconductor field-effect
transistor circuits.

But some designers say
GaAs has a long way to go
before it’s a commercially
viable component of desktop
computers. They think it
will be a long time before
chip makers can produce
GaAs on silicon substrates at
good yields, and they may
never overcome problems in¬
herent in GaAs circuitry.

ident Scheduler controls the
destination and scheduling
of file transmissions between
the sender and the recipi¬
ent. The Transfer Agent,
similar to a device driver,
handles the details of con¬
necting to the recipient, en¬
suring accurate data trans¬
mission, and disconnecting
from the communications
session. CAS provides
rules, codes, and functions
for implementing the sched¬
uling and device driver tasks.

Widespread support of
CAS could have a major im¬
pact on the often-incompat-
ible world of electronic com¬
munications. One company
is working on using CAS and
the Connection Copro¬
cessor as a gateway to allow
remote users to access
LANs at 9600 bps. With

continued

DCA/Intel Spec Could Mean Communications
without Bit-Twiddling

12 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Circle 273 on Reader Service Card

Introducing Wells American’s CompuStar Multi-Bus Business Computers.
/The world’s first and only multi-processor, convertible bus 1 '" microcomputers.

Ask any computer expert about what
type of system ydu should buy nowadays and
you’ll likely get a “pass the bus” response.
Something like — “Well, uh, the PC/AT* bus
is your best buy but, then again, the new
PS/2* bus may become the next industry
standard.” Great advice, right? If trying to
decide on a processor weren’t tough enough,
now you’re expected to pick a bus, too.

The all new CompuStar® from Wells
American not only lets you interchange
microprocessors, you can also mix and match
buses — a PC/AT bus, a PS/2 bus or. . .both.
As your computing heeds change, simply
snap in a new processor or add an extra bus.
You’ll; never again have to worry about buy¬
ing the wrong computer system!

The CompuStar can be configured with
any of four microprocessors — an 8086, an
80286, an 80386SX, or ap 80386, The
processor and up to 16 megabyfes of user
memory have all been combined, using the
latest VLSI technology, on a single, plug-in
CPU module. Plus, any time diinng the first
year, of ownership, CompuStar users can
“trade-in” the CPU module they initially
selected toward the purchase of any of the
other more powerful modules. Nobody but
i Wells American gives you this kind of value.
>■. ^ \

No, we’re not. In feet, it may well be the
most practical microcomputer innovation
* ever. Say you’ve selected an AT compatible
CompuStar and later want to add PS/2 com¬
patibility. No problem! Snap in a PS/2 Bus
and Adapter Module and you can use both
buses in the same system. Likewise,
if you’ve selected a PS/2 compatible
.CompuStar and decide you want to add
an AT bus, just snap in an AT Bus
v \> Module. Depending oh configuration,
s the CompuStar can have up to 13
{^expansion slots — all AT slots,
all PS/2 slots or a “split-bus” of AT
and PS/2 slots. Best of all, you
v,,. can reconfigure your CompuStar

whenever you want. ^ .

'•‘V

The CompuStar is also easily expanded.
That’s because there are seven CompuStar
disk/tape compartments — six accessible
from the front and an additional full-height
bay inside. All this in a sleek, compact tower
design that actually leaves more room on
your desktop than any of the so-called “desk¬
top” models.

The CompuStar® Multi-Processor, Con¬
vertible Bus™ Microcomputer, ft’s no sufr
prise that our engineers invented it. After all,
we’ve been making microcomputer longer
than anyone else. . .even longer thah IBM!
And if that kind of experience doesn’t im¬
press you, CompuStar’sservice programs
surely will. You can select an optional over¬
night module swap-out plan or on-site service
from General'Electric Corporation — one of
the most respected names in consumer elec¬
tronics. And, of course, every CompuStar
carries a full one-year factory warranty.
i -4 \ ••

.. \.<>r v;\- W - . . \ -

Think all this technology sounds expen¬
sive? It’s not; CompuStar 20MHz 80286 sys¬
tems start as low as $1995t. There are also
inexpensive 8086 and powerhouse 25MHz
80386 systems available. Plus, there is a wide
variety of CompuStar display, tape and disk
options including a one gigabyte erasable op¬
tical disk. You can choose a factory precon¬
figured CompuStar or custom design one
yourself. Just unlock the front panel and lit¬
erally “snap-in” a bus, CPU or disk module
in a matter of seconds. It’s system flexibility
never before available. . .at any price.

merman

Corporate Headquarters: 3243 Sunset Boulevard • West Columbia. SC 29169 • 803/796-7800 • TWX510-601-2645

r ^ ’Personal Computer AT. Aland PS/2 are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation, tphotograph depicts optional equipment. Complete price list available Upon request.

CompuStar 80286 base system ($1995) includes built-in VGA/EGA display adapter, one diskette drive with controller, two serialfone parallel/one mouse port, keyboard and 220 watt power supply.

While one of our competitors (we won’t
mention any names) threatens you with*
“missing the bus,” most simply pass the
bus. Our new CompuStar however,
eliminates the bus problem altogether.

Not to mention the processor problem.
Even the expansion problem. Prove
it to yourself. Call today about our
CompuStar 31-day trial offer. Oh,
and by the way, the next time
anyone asks, tell ’em you know
where the bus stops.

MICROBYTES

NANOBYTES

Singapore said residents
there can easily go to
Malaysia and pick up pi¬
rated products. Relentless
legal pressure could
make it too expensive for
pirates to operate, Scott
said. “Doing one raid
and having a news con¬
ference won’t solve the
problem.”

• Unix and OS/2 will

be the prevalent operating
systems in server envi¬
ronments, according to a
new report from Forres¬
ter Research (Cambridge,
MA). And why’s that?
Primarily because they
stay basically the same
across different vendors’
hardware and free users
of client/server systems
from proprietary de¬
signs, a Forrester re¬
searcher said. By 1992,
Unix will be the big oper¬
ating system on high-
end database and fault-
tolerant machines, and
OS/2 will be used with
more than half the file
and print servers, the re¬
searchers say.

• Unix is also the best
environment for elec¬
tronic publishing, says
another research group,
because of its multi¬
tasking, multiuser fea¬
tures. “Efficient han¬
dling of graphics is the
name of the game,”
said Ajit Kapoor, vice
president of CAP Inter¬
national (Norwell, MA).
And Unix does that bet¬
ter than any other operat¬
ing system currently
available, he said. Unix
skeptics, though, say it
lacks the applications to
woo new users. But Ka¬
poor said all that will
change. And how about
that user interface? Ac¬
cording to CAP, Unix
proponents expect that
the cosmetic surgery
proposed by AT&T/Sun
and the Open Software

continued

built-in support of CAS in
software applications, trans¬
parent file transfers and
electronic messaging will be
possible between incompat¬

ible or remote systems. As
Borland’s Rob Dickerson
put it, “You won’t have to be
a bit-twiddler to use com¬
munications.”

Contact Intel PCEO at
Mail Stop CO3-07, 5200
Northeast Elam Young
Pkwy., Hillsboro, OR97124
or call (800) 538-3373.

Memory Chips Have Brains, Do Processing Jobs

A fter hitting too many
snags and nixing a proj¬
ect to build a massively par¬
allel matrix-multiplication
analog chip for pattern-rec¬
ognition applications, Oxford
Computer (Oxford, CT)
founder Steven Morton hit
upon the idea of what he
calls “intelligent memory
chips.” With Morton’s de¬
sign, adding memory also
adds processing power. The
chips, which are strung to¬
gether in a module that fits
in the palm of a hand, do
more than serve as memory
devices; they also take care
of some of the processing
chores, which gets around the
slowdown caused by mov¬
ing bits back and forth be¬
tween memory and the cen¬
tral processor.

In an interview at the In¬
ternational Conference on
Neural Networks, Morton
said that standard memory is
inefficient for matrix¬
intensive applications, such
as three-dimensional graph¬
ics and pattern recognition,
because data must be
moved out of memory to a
separate processor for com¬

putations and then returned
to memory for output of the
results. Intelligent memory
chips have the capacity to
perform “intense computa¬
tions and work coopera¬
tively,” he said. The capabil¬
ity to perform on-board
matrix manipulation also dis¬
tinguishes the chips from
so-called smart memories,
such as video dynamic
RAMs, that include on-board
shift registers.

Morton points out that
his chips are not suited for
applications that don’t re¬
quire intense matrix manipu¬
lation—so don’t plan to re¬
place your conventional
memory chips and expect a
blazing performance increase
with your word processor.
And he’s currently looking
for financial support to
manufacture the chips and
expects availability in the
third quarter of 1989.

The chips can be config¬
ured in “intelligent memory
modules” that contain from
64K bytes to 1 megabyte of
storage to provide 1.28 bil¬
lion 8-bit multiplications and
additions per second for

image processing; 40 million
32-bit multiplications and
additions per second for 2-D
fast Fourier transforms and
real-time 3-D graphics; or 80
million floating-point oper¬
ations per second.

Each chip provides its
part of the matrix solution;
the partial results are then
accumulated to come up with
a final solution. A control
chip manages the partial re¬
sults and provides interfac¬
ing to the host bus. All this
occurs without transporting
blocks of data in and out of
memory, tying up the bus,
and slowing down the central
processor. Morton envi¬
sions a graphics board with
his special chips that plugs
into a system’s bus.

Morton claims that his
approach skirts the Von Neu¬
mann bottleneck encoun¬
tered when intense computa¬
tional activity can clog the
data bus and overload the
processor. “With memory
actually manipulating the
matrix information, the
central processor can go off
and do other things,” he
said.

Program Will Help with Conceptual 3-D Design

M ost CAD and solid
modeling programs to¬
day are intended for prepar¬
ing detailed, completed de¬
signs. However, conceptual
and preliminary design tools
are mainly limited to 2-D
drawing programs. Most de¬
signers still do most of their
preliminary work on paper
and then transfer the design
to the computer. One of the
main problems with con¬
ceptual design on the com¬
puter is the difficulty of lo¬

cating and specifying points
or features of the object in
3-D space. Of course, you
can specify any point if you
know its coordinates, but in
the early stages of design,
you’re not thinking about di¬
mensions or coordinates.

You want to be able to intu¬
itively locate the point on
the screen.

To facilitate conceptual
design on computers, re¬
searchers at Stanford Uni¬
versity are working on a geo¬

metric editor called a “cut-
plane solids editor.” Instead
of using a cursor to locate a
point on the screen, the cut-
plane editor uses a trans¬
parent plane that you can
move through space with a
mouse or some other pointing
device. The plane provides
a perspective in relation to
other points on a 3-D ob¬
ject. According to grad stu¬
dent Larry Edwards, “the
objective is to enable the user
continued

14 BYTE- OCTOBER 1988

Circle 156 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 157)

120 MBytes of power, speed and security
in a revolutionary, removable hard drive .

A t last, the Disk Pack gives
you everything you’ve al¬
ways wished for in a data
storage system. The speed and high
storage capacity of a hard drive. The
ease and convenience of a floppy disk¬
ette. And the safety of a tape backup.
All wrapped up in a state-of-the-art
rugged unit, about the size of a paper¬
back book. Designed to make your life
a lot simpler and more secure.

True portability is here

Just picture this: With the Disk Pack
you carry your whole work environ¬
ment with you, wherever you go. All
your files, all your data stay orga¬
nized and configured just the way you
created them. Between
your office and remote
sites. Or home. Or an¬
other department. You
can even mail a Disk
Pack. It’s that
rugged.

The Disk Pack frees
you from the constraints
of fixed computers. Your whole
work environment fits in the palm of your hand.

Total security for your data

Simply slide out a Disk Pack module
and lock away your entire business
customer base and payroll figures in
a drawer or safe. Same for lawyer,

banker or accountant sensitive data
and Uncle Sam confidential informa¬
tion. All fully secured in a snap.

Get full data portability and security on
the computer of your choice. Macintosh,
PC-Compatible or PS/2.

Blazing speed
Rock-solid reliability
Limitless expansion

Breakthrough technology makes the
Disk Pack four to five times more
reliable than other removable prod¬
ucts. Access times as low as 13 ms
make it one of the fastest hard drives
on the market. The Disk Pack doesn’t
limit you to a single storage capacity
either. You can interchange 20-, 40-,
80- or 120-MByte modules in your

For more information call

1-800-322-4744

PACK

The new standard in data storage technology

ijjeeadfwe

1801 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 507
Los Angeles, CA 90067

system and between systems. Link
modules up for a whopping Half-
GByte + of on-line data. Store them
for unlimited off-line data. And do
lightning-fast data backups.

That’s not all. The Disk Pack turns a
shared computer into your fully per¬
sonal machine within seconds. It’s
ideal for space grabbing applications
such as color graphics, CAD, or
music. One Disk Pack module does
the job of
100 diskettes.

Ten times
faster. And with
a lot less hassle.

And thanks to
the Disk Pack’s

I . The Disk Pack is ideal for

unique arcni- data security. Lock it away

teCtUre, you ’ll and forget about accidental or
use it equally intentional data loss.

well on any Mac, Apple, PC-compati¬
ble or PS/2 computer. It’s that advanced.

Dealer inquiries welcome

YES! / want to know more about Mega Drive Systems' new data
storage technology. Please rush me more information about the
Disk Pack and your free booklet "20 Valuable Facts About
Hard Disk Care and Maintenance" today.

Name -

Zip

Phone (_

Mega Drive Systems, Inc.

1801 Ave. of the Stars, Suite 507.

Los Angeles, CA 90067 (213) 556-1663

Number of Micros.

MICROBYTES

NANOBYTES

Foundation will make
Unix more attractive to
people baffled by grep
and awk. As for another
multitasking system, CAP
said those Unix users
surveyed say OS/2 won’t
affect their commitment
to Unix.

• If you think LCDs are
used only in watches and
laptop computers, check
this out. Hitachi America
(Sunnyvale, CA) has a
new LCD-based display
that measures 2 meters
across, has a resolution of
2000 by 2000, and has
three lasers projecting the
primary colors through
high-resolution LCD light
valves. The display is
controlled by its own
computer, which has a
serial port and hard disk
continued

to see visual clues between
the cursor and the object in
question.”

The plane can be trans¬
lated and rotated in real time
to intersect an object at any
location or angle, thereby
eliminating the need for
multiple views and giving the
user more of a feeling of
actually working with a 3-D
object.

Once you have positioned
the plane, all manipulations
(line drawings, intersec¬
tions, addition of object

primitives) are constrained
to occur within the plane.
Currently, the cut-plane
editor uses a polyhedral
model to represent objects.
The researchers can rotate
and manipulate points in
the cut-plane/object inter¬
section, rotate the object in¬
dependently or in conjunction
with the cut-plane, rotate
about an edge or intersection
line, or extrude a cross sec¬
tion of the object.

Eventually, the editor
will have other object primi¬

tives, such as curved sur¬
faces, granularity, and visual
features needed for concep¬
tual design. The current ver¬
sion is written in C and
runs on a Silicon Graphics
1400. Edwards said that
Lisp would have been ideal,
since the program involves
the manipulation of lists, but
that performance would
have been too slow. The cut-
plane project is under the
supervision of the Stanford
Institute of Manufacturing
and Automation.

Prototype “3-D Computer” Stacks Processors

T he prototype for a 3-D
integrated circuit that
packs 1024 processors into
a single chip has been devel¬
oped by scientists at
Hughes Research Laborato¬
ries (Malibu, CA). The so-
called 3-D computer is the

first step in developing an
ultrafast machine that
squeezes supercomputer
power into a processor about
the size of a tuna can.

“The 3-D computer is an
array processor, architectur¬
ally and behaviorally,”

Hughes staff scientist Mike
Little told Microbytes Daily
(available weekdays on BIX).
“That means it has a cer¬
tain range of applications—
for example, image pro¬
cessing, radar signal

continued

Receiving

Report

Transmitted

Invoice

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Payable

16 B Y T E • OCTOBER 1988

Circle 194 on Reader Service Card

verything it takes to add
PostScript to your LaserJet II,
including HP’s blessing.

Hewlett-Packard* and QMS’ have made it easy
to give your LaserJet Series II* the desktop
publishing power of the PostScript’ page de¬
scription language.

The new QMS JetScript™

JetScript is the only Adobe PostScript
controller upgrade authorized by HP and de¬
signed specifically for the LaserJet Series II.
JetScript gives your printer the industry-
standard page description language to accom¬
pany HP’s PCL printer language. This expands
your laser printing capabilities. Increases over¬
all printer performance. Yet preserves HP func¬
tionality and warranties.

Do it yourself JetScript is easy to install. Just
plug in two cards (one in your personal com¬
puter*, the other in your printer), connect a
cable and install the software.

The result is a PostScript system with 35
resident Adobe typefaces, three megabytes of
RAM, and QMS ASAP™ (Advanced System
Architecture for PostScript) proprietary tech¬
nology for superior performance. All for less
than half the cost of a new PostScript laser
printer.

New forms of expression The speed and
power of JetScript combine to give your LaserJet
Series II a form of expression that’s found only
with PostScript.

Simply, PostScript opens up the full range
of possibilities for desktop publishing. You
have complete control over the final look of the
page, down to the last exacting detail. PostScript
allows for an infinite number of font variations
and sizes. That makes PostScript’s limitless
flexibility and power the perfect complement to
your LaserJet Series II, giving you the high-
quality output you require.

Impressive results People have come to expect
impressive results from QMS—one of the first
companies to bring the power of PostScript to
laser printing, and now with more PostScript-
based products than any other company.

You’ll get the same results from the new
JetScript. After all, it has HP’s blessing.

Laser Connection is a sales and marketing
subsidiary of QMS. Call 1-800-523-2696 for
the location of your nearest Laser Connection
dealer.

•JetScript available for IBM PC-XT] IBM PC-AT', HPVectra™
and compatible personal computers, or the IBM PS/2™ Model 30.

[IE LASGR

'Isconnecnon

A QMS 1 Company

Circle 138 on Reader Service Card

The following are trademarks of their respective companies: HR Hewlett-Packard.
LaserJet Series II, HP Vectra of Hewlett-Packard. QMS, JetScript. ASAR Laser
Connection of QMS, Inc. PostScript of Adobe Systems. IBM PC-XT, IBM PC-AT
and IBM PS/2 of International Business Machines Corp.

OCTOBER 1988 • BYTE 17

MICROBYTES

NANOBYTES

drive. The cost is
$300,000.

• To help solve the
problems involved in
dealing with massive
amounts of information,
the National Science
Foundation has awarded
grants to several univer¬
sities with top-notch com¬
puter science depart¬
ments. At the University
of California at Berke¬
ley, they’ll be working on
a hierarchical storage
system based on an ex¬
perimental “super in¬
formation server” that
has an 80-million-in-
struction-per-second pro¬
cessor, 1 gigabyte of
primary memory, 1 tera¬
byte of optical disk stor¬
age, 100 high-capacity
disk drives, and a fiber¬
optic network.

processing, weather model¬
ing, and finite-element
analysis.”

The chip consists of a set
of stacked silicon wafers.
Each wafer contains an
array of 32 by 32 processor
segments, each of which is
connected to its four neigh¬
bors on the wafer as well as
to the other wafers in the
stack. “We developed two
technologies,” Little said.
“One involves connections
through a wafer; the other in¬
volves the connections from
wafer to wafer. The new
technology allows us to re¬

think how to partition
circuits.”

To make a connection
from one wafer to another,
Little’s team uses a “micro¬
bridge”: an inverted U on top
of one wafer and on the bot¬
tom of another. “When you
stack the wafers, the pair of
U’s intersect and form the
connection between the two
wafers,” Little said. To make
connections through a wa¬
fer, the Hughes scientists use
an innovative form of ther¬
mal migration to create
10,000 channels at a time
in each wafer.

To make the 3-D com¬
puter, Little explained,
“First we put the channels
in, then we add the circuits—
conventional circuit fabrica¬
tion from a commercial
foundry.” Instead of put¬
ting a complete processor on
each wafer, only one sec¬
tion of the processor appears
on each wafer; when the
wafers are stacked, each
column forms a complete
processor. As a result, “the
complexity of the processor
is how deep it is, not its
lateral extent,” Little said;
a more complex processor
could be constructed by
stacking more wafers
on top of those already
there.

The current 3-D com¬
puter contains 1024 proces¬
sors in a 32- by 32-proces¬
sor array; it’s a fixed-point,
16-bit computer in a chunk
of silicon 3 inches square and
a half-inch high.

TECHNOLOGY NEWS WANTED. The news staff at BYTE is
interested in hearing about new technological and scientific de¬
velopments that might have an impact on microcomputers and
the people who use them. If you know of advances or projects
relevant to microcomputing, please contact the Microbytes staff
at (603) 924-9281, send mail on BIX to Microbytes, or write to
us at One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. An
electronic version of Microbytes, which offers a wider variety of
computer-related news on a daily basis, is available on BIX.

With Maplnfo, More Ways
Than Ever To Map Your Data

Pin Map. Automatically use your existing
database (from dBASE III or others)
with street maps that we can supply.
Maps from over 300 U.S. cities and
towns contain all addresses, accurate to
the correct block and side of the
street. Type any address and Maplnfo
will find it for you. Call to the screen
your complete record.

Thematic. Use our boundaries (state
or county) or draw your own (sales
regions, election districts, etc.). Create
a database for the region (population,
average income, etc.) Color code
boundaries or entire regions based on
parameters you define.

Presentation. Use powerful graphics
commands to add your own titles,
legends and text. Create arrows,
windows or callouts. Turn on or off labels
of points, streets, bridges, regions,
etc.

Visual Database. Draw anything from
a floor plan to aircraft design. Store data
on any point or region. Create multiple
layers to add flexibility to your display.

And that’s just a sample. If you need to map your data, Maplnfo can do it for as little as $750. IBM PC or
100% compatibles, with 640K memory, a hard disk drive, and graphics capability.

MapM§>

18 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

To order, call 1-800-FASTMAR In New York State, call 1-518-274-8673 (Telex 371-5584).

Maplnfo Corp., 200 Broadway, Troy, NY 12180

dBASE III is a trademark of AshtonTate. IBM and IBM PC are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp.

Circle 153 on Reader Service Card

These unretouched print
samples show the superior
print quality of QMS-PS 810
over printers using first-
generation print engines .

■ ^
it

gll

.’..'ll*

ntroducing the PostScript laser printer
that blacks out at high speeds.

The new
8-page/minute

QMS-PS 810

laser

printer

The new QMS-PS’ 810 can compose and print
the most complex pages in record times, with
richer, more saturated blacks than ever before.
All with the desktop publishing power of Adobe
PostScript’, and the superior print know-how of
QMS, an industry leader.

Under the hood QMS ASAP™ (Advanced Sys¬
tem Architecture for PostScript) is proprietary
technology that helps eliminate the hardware
bottlenecks that hinder other PostScript printers.
As a result, QMS-PS 810 boasts processing speeds
remarkably faster than other PostScript printers
in its class. And faster output means greater pro¬
ductivity. In addition, the QMS-PS 810 laser

printer’s new Canon’
SX* print engine
covers solid areas and
prints fine detail
better than previous-
generation engines.

Fast start, strong finish You can adorn your
documents with one or all of the 35 Adobe
typefaces. Thanks to PostScript, there’s an
infinite number of font variations available. You
can also make type as large or as small as you
want. And put it anywhere on the page. In fact,
with PostScript you enjoy total control over the
design of your page. It gives you the complete
desktop publishing power to do things that
would otherwise be virtually impossible. So you
get high-quality output exactly how you want it.

Along with PostScript, the HP LaserJet+™
Diablo’ 630 and HP-GL™ printer emulations
are added for your non-PostScript software.

The QMS-PS 810 laser printer is easy to
use, maintain, and comes with a one-year war¬
ranty. It’s available from Laser Connection
dealers. Laser Connection is a sales and
marketing subsidiary of QMS. For the dealer
nearest you call 1-800-523-2696 .

A QMS’ company

The following are trademarks of their respective companies: QMS, QMS-PS, ASAP
Laser Connection of QMS, Inc. PostScript of Adobe Systems, Inc. Canon, Canon
SX of Canon, U.S.A. LaserJet +, HP-GL of Hewlett-Packard. Diablo of Xerox Corp.

Circle 139 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 ‘BYTE 19

Y)u Can Never Be
Too Powerful

QrTooThin.

As portable PCs go, ours may look a
bit on the skinny side. But they’re by no
means undernourished.

After all, each 286 and 386 powered
Toshiba portable has an easy-to-read gas
plasma screen. Each is IBM-compatible.
And each gives you a wide range of features
you’d expect only from a desktop PC.

The T3100/20, for example, weighs a
scant 15 pounds, yet has an abundance
of power. It comes with an 80286 micro¬
processor and 640KB of RAM that’s ex¬
tendable to 2.6MB. Plus, there’s a built-in
20MB hard disk.

OurT3200 has the advantages of a
12MHz 80286 microprocessor, an EGA
display system, a 40MB hard disk and 1MB
of RAM expandable to 4MB. Also, its two
IBM-compatible internal expansion slots
let you connect your PC to mainframes,
LANs and more. But what’s even more im¬
pressive is how we managed to fit all this
into a slim, 19-pound package.

Then there’s ourT5100. As amazing as
it seems, we managed to squeeze a 16MHz
80386 microprocessor into a slim package
that weighs less than 15 pounds. To that
we added an EGA display system and a 29

msec 40MB hard disk. As your thirst for
power grows, its 2MB RAM can be up¬
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BY-10/88

Letters

Lab Lift

Your lab staff has been a magnificent
help over the past months. I’m brand new
to the microcomputer world, and the lab
staff has been instrumental in helping me
map that world. Their assistance on gen¬
eral questions, benchmarks, and video
has allowed me to take a lead role in the
Air Force Small Computer Office.

Please pass along my thanks to your
entire staff for their help and for bringing
me an incredibly good magazine every
month.

Johnathan M. Wilson, 2dLt., USAF
Computer Systems Test Engineer
Gunter AFS, AL

Where Credit Is Due

The companion articles “The CPU
Wars” and “What They Did Wrong”
(May) were excellent nostalgia pieces for
me. However, both articles attributed the
6502 to Mostek, a Dallas-area firm. The
6502 was originated by some ex-Motor¬
ola designers and first produced by MOS
Technology, a silicon foundry later pur¬
chased by Commodore.

I started with personal computing
about the time the 6502 was introduced,
and my first “personal computer” was a
KIM-1. I still have that computer, and
it’s in working condition. This machine
has a six-digit LED display, a 24-key
keyboard, and IK byte of static RAM.

In 1977, at least one computer scientist
rated the KIM-1 as having the “most
bang for the buck” in terms of classroom
hands-on applications. This capability
was generated by the two PIA-style sup¬
port chips, one 6530-5 (operating system
in masked ROM) and one 6530 (no
ROM). To this day, more than 12 years
after its introduction, the KIM-1 re¬
mains a strong example of the effective¬
ness of dedicated support chips in com¬
puter design.

Ralph Tenny
Richardson, TX

Everyone into the Spool

In “Weighing the Options” (July), Brett
Glass states that “spool” stands for
“simultaneous peripheral operation on¬

line. ” That acronym seems to be a recent
ad hoc creation. In the old mainframe
days, output could be sent to a “spool” of
tape to be printed later. That is the origin
of the terms “spool” and “spooling.”
Well, it could have been called
“reeling.”

Jud McCranie
Valdosta, GA

Environmental Impact Statement

I have a comment regarding “A Turbo
TSR” by Scott Robert Ladd (July).
While he correctly notes that a termi-
nate-and-stay-resident (TSR) program
should free up the environment segment,
his program should not wait until de¬
installing itself to do this. A TSR pro¬
gram should free the environment when
it installs itself.

One of the seemingly little known as¬
pects of writing TSR programs under
DOS is the proper handling of the envi¬
ronment segment. Unless the resident
part of your program uses the environ¬
ment segment, it should be released dur¬
ing the installation process, before mak¬
ing the TSR call. Unfortunately, many
programs—including a lot of commercial
TSRs—do not do this; thus, each one I in¬
stall gobbles up another 600 bytes for a
copy of the environment that it never
uses. It seems especially strange that
programmers waste space in this way
when I see some of the tricks some of
them do to try to save a few bytes in a
TSR program.

The process that Mr. Ladd outlined
for releasing the environment block is

continued

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. Please
double-space your letter on one side of a page
and include your name and address. We can
print listings and tables along with a letter if
they are short and legible. Address corre¬
spondence to Letters Editor, BYTE, One
Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough ,
NH 03458.

Because of space limitations, we reserve
the right to edit letters. Generally, it takes
four months from the time we receive a letter
until we publish it.

22 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

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OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 23

LETTERS

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24 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Circle 16 on Reader Service Card

correct. He just should have made his
program do it upon installation, rather
than upon deinstallation. I hope you will
pass this tip on to your readers and that
they, in turn, will use it to write better-
behaved TSRs that don’t use up more of
our precious RAM than they need.

It seems likely to me that DOS dies
with a memory allocation error when
Mr. Ladd tries to deinstall QT because
he is trying to deallocate memory that
belongs to a different program. Since his
TSR is no longer the running program,
DOS probably regards its attempt to re¬
lease memory as coming from whatever
program QT interrupted, which does not
own the segment in which QT resides;
hence, the memory allocation error. I
have never written a TSR that tries to re¬
lease its memory on deinstallation, so I
don’t know the fix for this.

Michael Hanson
Seattle , WA

Another Option to Weigh

I have a comment regarding the letter
from Dan Mick (“Multiplying Integers, ”
July) and the article entitled “Weighing
the Options” by Brett Glass (July).

First, a flaw exists in Mr. Mick’s rec¬
ommended solution. Merely adding the
multiplication by (floating-point) 1 is not
guaranteed to prevent the integer over¬
flow. The parsing algorithm used by the
compiler may detect (and generate code
for) the integer-integer multiplication
and then perform the promotion to float¬
ing point for the “ 1.0” multiplication. At
the very least, place the “1.0” factor be¬
tween the two integers. Even better, use
parentheses to force the floating-point
conversion first. For example,

20 A = (1.0#B*) *B%

The best solution would be to use an
intrinsic conversion function, which
should be supplied with the compiler
and/or run-time system—something on
the order of the following (the actual
function name may vary with the com¬
piler and language):

20 A = B$ # CSNG(B^)

Now for a comment on Mr. Glass’s
comparison of Amiga signals to sema¬
phores. As the owner of an Amiga A-
1000, I could not let this mistake stand,
especially as KickStart 1.2 implements
both signals and semaphores.

Amiga signals are closer in nature to
the event flags of VAX/VMS. Each
Amiga task has its own set of signal bits;

continued

OPTIONS

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B 10/88

CFItJl Evers*, Srsp ond MAMA are frodemate of Everex Systents, Inc A8 other produd nones ore legistered trademarks of their

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Steve Hui, President
Everex Systems, Inc.

IBM PS/2 Model 80 (20 MHz)_

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Circle 92 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 93)

LETTERS

in use, a bit will be allocated to some
event that the task is interested in (mostly
I/O completion), and the task then waits
for the bit to be set. Semaphores, on the
other hand, tend to be global to the sys¬
tem, where multiple tasks can obtain ac¬
cess to a single semaphore.

In fact, the Amiga implements two
different types of semaphores. An imme¬
diate bit-test form allows for a simple
test-and-set call (which returns immedi¬
ately, with a success/failure status) or an

unconditional wait-for-semaphore call
(which does not return until the sema¬
phore has been obtained). The message-
based form allows for semaphore re¬
quests to be queued; a task can submit a
request for the semaphore, continue pro¬
cessing, and, at a later time, test (or even
wait) for the availability of the
semaphore.

A bit of humor appears here. The
Amiga calls Procure (s) and Vacate (s)
bear a suspicious resemblance to the clas-

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sical P(s) and V(s) semaphore primi¬
tives of Dijkstra—which Principles of
Concurrent Programming (M. Ben-Ari,
Prentice-Hall International) claims are
derived from the Dutch words for Wait
and Signal, respectively (Wait and Sig¬
nal already having been taken up by ear¬
lier releases of the Amiga Exec).

Dennis Lee Bieber
Sunnyvale , CA

Going from .MAC to .ASM

First, I’d like to thank Rick Grehan and
all the people responsible for the Small-
C compiler. Rick’s suggestion about
changing the output of the compiler from
.MAC files to .ASM files is a good one,
since I’m basically lazy and don’t like
typing the extension when I’m assem¬
bling the files.

If any of your readers want to make the
change from .MAC to .ASM, the code is
contained in the CC11.C file under the
openfile() function. Simply change
strcpy(outfn + j, ".MAC"); to str-
cpy(outfn +j, ".ASM");.

While in the CC21.C file, users might
want to fix a small problem with the us¬
age line. When cc86 and any invalid
character is typed, a usage line is pre¬
sented that informs the user of the op¬
tions available to the compiler. For ex¬
ample, if you type cc86, the response
usage will be cc [file] .. . [— m] [ — a]
[-P] [1#] [-o].

The usage will give you all this and a
few garbage characters. To fix it, you
simply look at the end of the ask () func¬
tion after the last #endif and change
sout (NEWLINE, stderr); to sout
("\n", stderr);. The explanation of
this is that sout is expecting a string, and
although NEWLINE is a linefeed (charac¬
ter 10), sout has a problem with this. It
really goes deeper; it has to do with the
way fputc expects n \n M to escape for a
new line, while NEWLINE is a raw
linefeed.

Enough of that. Thanks again for the
compiler. I’m having a blast with it.

Gary Flynn
San Gabriel, CA

Practically Speaking

Peter Wayner’s remarks on “Error-Free
Fractions” (June) are correct from a
theoretical point of view. Practical appli¬
cation, however, will be difficult, even if
special processors and compilers could
be realized for calculating the way he
suggests.

The problem is the degree of precision
that can be obtained, in relation to mem¬
ory use and execution time. For in-

continued

28 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Circle 223 on Reader Service Card

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OCTOBER 1988 • B Y T E 29

LETTERS

A HOLMES IN
EVERY PORT

stance, for a precision equivalent to 64
bits, or 19 decimals, only rational num¬
bers can be used whose denominators
contain no prime factors larger than 22.
Prime-number denominators of more
than 5 digits can’t be gotten through, not
even on the biggest computers, within an
acceptable lapse of time.

I think an easier, but less interesting,
way of exact calculation with fractions is
to simply store the numerator and de¬
nominator separately. Memory use and

execution time then remain of the same
order (say, 3 or 4 times as much) as with
normal floating-point calculation.

Even then, error-free fraction calcula¬
tion is not useful, because the improved
precision is of no importance compared
to the loss of speed—except in very spe¬
cial projects. Mr. Wayner’s examples of
errors in floating-point calculation are
rather far-fetched, whereas his results by
using factorial-base notation deal with
denominators that are composed of very

small prime factors only.

The article is interesting for two rea¬
sons. First, the mathematical theory is
explained in a clear-cut way. Second, it
illustrates an amazing lack of contact, on
the whole, between mathematics and
computer programming, apart from
small circles of super specialists. In high
school and college, very little is done
on behalf of this (I’m speaking of Hol¬
land, but I suppose it’s the same in the
U.S.).

Derk Boonstra
Amstelveen, The Netherlands

You Can’t Be Too Careful

I have a few comments on articles in the
June issue.

Regarding “Computers on the Brain,
Part 1” in Ciarcia’s Circuit Cellar:
Warnings notwithstanding, an electrical
device attached to the human body
should include isolation as close to the
signal source (i.e., flesh) as possible.
Burns have been documented resulting
from battery-powered, FDA-reviewed,
professionally manufactured medical de¬
vices; the potential is certainly greater in
the case of a hobbyist-constructed (and
possibly hobbyist-modified) device.
Would opto-isolation be possible before
the preamps?

Now on to my second comment. Peter
Wayner’s “Error-Free Fractions” as¬
serts that “it’s hard to tell if 501/1024 is
greater or less than 5203/10456 without
calculating the quotient.” In fact, com¬
paring ratio-represented real numbers
simply requires a common-denominator
cross-multiplication and comparison:

Given r x = n x / d Xi d x > 0;
r 2 = n 2 1 d 2i d 2 > 0;

Let P\ = n x x d 2 ,
p 2 = n 2 X d x \

If p 2 > p i, then r 2 > r u

Else if p 2 < P\, then r 2 < r x .

Else r 2 = r x .

In this case, p x = 501 x 10456 =
5238456, and p 2 = 5203 x 1024 =
5327872; p 2 > p x , so r 2 > r x . By stipu¬
lating that the sign is carried in the nu¬
merator and the denominator is always
positive, this operation works for arbi¬
trary real numbers. Thus, the cost of
comparison is two integer multiplies
(with double-precision products) and one
double-precision compare.

James L. Reuss, Ph.D.

Boca Raton , FL ■

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30 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Circle 114 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 115)

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Circle 244 on Reader Service Card

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Circle 31 on Reader Service Card

Chaos Manor
Mail

Jerry Pournelle answers questions about his column
and related computer topics

The European Market

Dear Jerry,

In your February column (“Life after
Las Vegas,” page 182), you seemed sur¬
prised that in Europe the Atari ST has
gained a “serious machine” status,
which perhaps it lacks in the U.S. In
fact, most Americans don’t realize that
the computer market here in Europe is
quite different from what they’re used to.
Prices here tend to be much higher for
most brand-name machines, and some
interesting products are hard to find.

To give you an example, I recently
bought an Atari Mega ST2. Its list price,
including a 20-megabyte Atari hard disk
drive, was about $2700 here in Italy.
Such a price might sound expensive in
the U.S., but, for reasons beyond my
comprehension, Apple is selling a com¬
parably equipped Macintosh SE (with 1
megabyte of RAM and a 20-megabyte
hard disk drive) for $5700. And dealer
margin is low enough that you can’t get a
discount of more than 10 percent (which
is comparable to what you can get on the
Atari). As you can see, over here the
Atari—even the Mega series—still gives
you the most computer for your buck, at
least in the 68000 world. In fact, I can
buy an Atari Mega ST2 with a hard disk
drive and the Atari laser printer for less
than I’d have to pay for the Apple laser
printer alone.

Given this, if you decide to get off the
MS-DOS or OS/2 bandwagon and you
don’t have a little fortune to spend on the
Mac, the Atari seems a good choice. Asa
result, many small businesses, profes¬
sionals, consultants, and independent of¬
fices are turning to the Atari as a system
that is inexpensive and easy to use. The
Atari also lets them do their tasks (e.g.,
word processing, desktop publishing,
and communications) at a reasonable
price.

Why Apple is pursuing such a policy is
a mystery to me, but I think Atari’s big
success is partly due to Apple’s absurd
pricing policy. If Macs here sold for what
they do in the U.S., the market might be
different. But in the current situation, the
Atari is very strong, especially in En¬

gland and in West Germany, where
there’s an impressive range of locally
written software for the Atari computers.

As for the 80x86 world, the business
here is lagging behind the U.S. develop¬
ments; people are still buying 8088 ma¬
chines as their first machines, not realiz¬
ing that those are already obsolete.
People are also very confused about the
whole OS/2 story—whether it is real,
whether it will be real some day, and so
on. In fact, with so many hardware and
software standards, doing system inte¬
gration in the PC-compatible game is
something short of a nightmare—more
so here, because many things that would
make your life easier just aren’t available
here. Often, if you decide to go with MS-
DOS, you’re stuck between either true-
blue IBM (it costs a little less than
$10,000 for a PS/2 Model 60 with a dot¬
matrix printer) or Taiwanese equipment,
which is often sold by dealers with very
little competence. Clone machines are
usually a good deal, but you’d better
know what you’re doing, because no
dealer will be out there to help you.

Macs are easily available (not so for
the software, though, and I know of some
official Apple dealers who make good
money on pirated software), but at their
high prices they have found their natural
niche in the academic market.

As you see, the market situation here
is quite different, and that explains why
some machines—such as the Commo¬
dore 64—have been big hits in Europe.
On the other hand, the American market
tends to be provincial; both users and
companies think nothing exists beyond
the U.S. Good products (especially soft¬
ware) get developed in Europe, too.

Fabio Favata
Palermo, Italy
continued

Jerry Pournelle holds a doctorate in psy¬
chology and is a science fiction writer
who also earns a comfortable living writ¬
ing about computers present and future.
He can be reached c/o BYTE, One Phoe¬
nix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458,
or on BIX as ‘jerryp. ”

Circle 34 on Reader Service Card

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OCTOBER 1988 • B Y T E 33

CHAOS MANOR MAIL

Thank you for the report. One reason
Atari and Amiga sell in Europe is because
they don V have to pay so much attention
to certifications by the FCC. Ido wonder
if the FCC’s real purpose here is to help
the administration deal with the (t too
strong ” dollar. If so, I have news; they ve
been wildly successful. —Jerry

The Trouble with MIS Professionals

Dear Jerry,

I’m writing about the letter Charles
Hahn wrote you attempting to defend the
behavior of corporate data-processing
departments (“In Defense of DP Depart¬
ments,” March, page 36). When I first
read the letter, I dismissed it as just an¬
other point of view that raised some in¬
teresting points even if I didn’t fully agree
with it. However, after more thought, it
strikes me that Mr. Hahn’s letter is a clas¬
sic case of what’s wrong with many MIS
(and managerial) professionals. I also
can’t help but think that there’s another
side to his story, and I’d like to hear it.

On one hand, Mr. Hahn is upset about
the lack of initiative shown by the people
in his company, since they don’t like to
work voluntary, unpaid overtime and

won’t learn how to use their machines on
their own time. (I suspect what he means
is that peopie won’t take the often boring
manuals home to study them to a point
just short of memorization. Has he ever
tried letting people take both machines
and manuals home to experiment with?
I’ve found that technique works.) On the
other hand, Hahn is angry that his ex¬
director, who actually showed some ini¬
tiative, used his own programs and hard¬
ware instead of Lotus and WordStar,
which are apparently the only two MIS-
approved programs.

I can’t help but wonder what the situa¬
tion would have been if Mr. Hahn’s com¬
pany had a policy of listening to its em¬
ployees and had actually bought the
director an IBM PC AT and first-rate
software to go with it in the first place. I
also wonder what it was that caused the
director to leave the company. Corporate
attitudes, perhaps?

Frankly, I think the fundamental
problem is that many managers forget
that no matter what sort of equipment
and hardware they may buy to improve
productivity, the people who run the ma¬
chines still determine the ultimate suc¬

cess and/or failure of the operation.
While it may be unfortunate for busi¬
ness, the fact is that the people running
the machinery aren’t machines them¬
selves.

George P. Nelson
Springfield, VA

Well, I had much the same thought my¬
self; the purpose of small computers is to
enhance productivity, and I doubt very
seriously if even the cleverest MIS direc¬
tor has thought of all the ideas. Giving in¬
telligent people good tools and watching
to see what they will develop with them
has always seemed to me a much better
idea. —Jerry

Users versus Businesspeople
Dear Jerry,

I’m writing in response to Richard H.
Goodyear’s letter (“No Mac Clones,”
August 1987). He says that while users
have written a lot about the Macintosh,
businesspeople have spoken “eloquently
by their silence,” as there are no Macin¬
tosh clones.

It was, as you remarked, an “interest-

continued

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ECOSOFT

Circle 89 on Reader Service Card

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OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 35

CHAOS MANOR MAIL

ing observation.”

I don’t like to be judgmental, but I fear
Mr. Goodyear is guilty of leading the
gullible down that well-known garden
path. What makes “users” and “busi¬
nesspeople” mutually exclusive? If you
accept that premise, then you enter the
garden.

The absence of Mac clones is another
misleading premise. What are GEM and
Microsoft Windows if not user interfaces
that copy the look and feel of the Mac’s
operating system?

What inspired the Commodore Amiga
and Atari ST series?

And what is all this about an OS/2 for
the new IBM systems that has something
called the Presentation Manager? Could
it be that it will use a mouse and have the
look and feel of a Mac interface?

Looks like some businesspeople are
about to become users.

Brian Farley
Saipan, Mariana Islands

Actually, it will have a mouse and the
look and feel of the Lilith, or perhaps
early Xerox systems ....

I keep trying to start the rumor that

Apple is going to sue Xerox for look and
feel. — Jerry

Computing on the Go

Dear Jerry,

I’m writing in response to the letter
from Bren Jacobson (“Floatable Com¬
puter?” March, page 36), who wants to
use a computer in a boat. I can’t offer
much about corrosion problems, but I use
computers in motor homes.

People have tried 12-volt DC battery
voltage for the drives, plus a few resistors
for the 5-V circuitry. And I’ve found
problems because cheap power supplies
often depend on one load to balance out
another. Then there are all those voided
warranties.

My ancient CP/M machines would
run on a one-lung light plant, albeit with
a flickering CRT that could provoke ter¬
minal mal de mer. But when I went to a
hard disk, a mechanically governed al¬
ternator just couldn’t hack it. Nor could a
hard disk endure prairie summers with
power lines harvesting every lightning
strike from Vancouver to Halifax. Prob¬
lems were exacerbated by RV parks with
inadequate wiring. Somebody plugs in

one more coffee maker, and there go the
last 10 pages....

Five photovoltaic panels and four
deep-cycle batteries just about break
even for boondocking in the desert.
This, of course, also maintains lights,
swamp cooler, TV, CB, water pumps,
furnace fans, and all the usual hardships
of wilderness life.

The 1-kilowatt Vanner inverter turns
12-V DC into 110-V, 60-Hz, pulse-width
modulation with 87 percent efficiency,
and it will drive any small computer
more dependably than most electric com¬
panies. It will also drive kitchen appli¬
ances for short periods. It cost $1000 2
years ago, and now it sells for $500.

G. C. Edmondson
Lakeside, CA

From what I've seen you do over the
years, you probably have more experi¬
ence at mobile computing than anyone
else in the world. Thanks for sharing it
with us. —Jerry

Should We Worry about Viruses?

Dear Jerry,

My wife and I work at home in south-

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36 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Circle 81 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 82)

CHAOS MANOR MAIL

ild# 1 ***

Obieet-One*

ern France, and, having just bought two
20-MHz Compaq 80386 computers, we
are wary of installing French Minitel in¬
ternal modem cards for fear of malicious
computer virus programs that spread
through networks and destroy data on
hard disks.

We heard about viruses in a Herald
Tribune article (February 1, 1988) that
mentioned a preventive program called
Data Physician, edited by Digital Dis¬
patch in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

How serious is this problem, and does
the program work?

Peter Clark
Forcalquier, France

Well, computer viruses are indeed real
enough, but the best preventive is to be
sure you don’t put unknown software into
your machine. There are also a number
of companies that sell virus protection
programs; just how badly you need one is
a matter of judgment. — Jerry

QuickBASIC 3.0 versus 4.0

Dear Jerry,

I can’t agree with your praise of the
QuickBASIC 4.0 debugger (Computing

at Chaos Manor, March). You did note its
weakness—you can’t see the trace and
the output at the same time. What you
probably fail to realize is the intense in¬
convenience this causes, with seemingly
dozens of strokes to go between tracing
and viewing the output and back. When
tracing, the output does appear for a
fraction of a second with each PRINT, as
you note, but you didn’t emphasize how
visually annoying it is. Further, it is too
fast to serve any purpose at all.

I wrote an impassioned letter to Bill
Gates about this problem, and I even re¬
ceived a telephone call in response
(though not from him). I simply refuse to
use version 4.0 until this is corrected.
(The 3.0 trace is quite workable. In fact,
version 3.0 is quite good.)

I just tried to use the 4.0 debugger
once again, but it’s still terrible. I’ll just
have to forgo the goodies like the record
structure until Microsoft fixes the cru¬
cial debugging operations.

There are some factual errors in your
column. First, QuickBASIC will accept
the one-line IF. . .THEN. . .ELSE
structure you worked so hard to elimi¬
nate. Granted, it’s unreadable, but the

compiler rejection is limited to Turbo
Basic and is a drawback to using that lan¬
guage if you’re running old programs.

Second, QuickBASIC (including 4.0)
still supports use of the same name as¬
signments to different types of variable.
Thus, you can indeed declare TEACHER,
TEACHER?, TEACHER#, and so on. Your
problem was that the error duplicate defi¬
nition is a bug. The correct error, which I
found by using 3.0 with your problem, is
missing =. Add the =, and the error
changes or disappears.

Peter J. Lunde
West Simsbury, CT

I haven’t had the debugging problems
you have, and with QuickBASIC 4.0’s
ability to step through code, set break¬
points and history, and the rest of the
goodies, I much prefer it to QuickBASIC
3.0; but everyone to his own taste.

You’re right: QuickBASIC will take
one-line statements; I’d already cleaned
them up to get them through Turbo Basic,
so I never even tried them on Quick¬
BASIC. Your other point is correct, too,
as I found out just after I approved the
galleys of the article. Oh, well.— Jerry ■

A sk Byt e

Circuit Cellar’s Steve Ciarcia answers your questions on microcomputing

Mac to PC, Over

Dear Steve,

I am experiencing a disturbing prob¬
lem as I try to connect my IBM PC XT to
my Macintosh 512KE through the RS-
422 serial communication port. Al¬
though Apple claims that the Mac’s
serial communication port conforms to
the RS-422 standard, I find that the Mac
has fewer handshaking lines than the PC.

I have no problem connecting data signal
lines, but what about the handshaking
lines? The Mac has only “handshaking
in” and “handshaking out,” while the
PC has both “ + ” and “ — ” for every in
and out handshaking line. How can I
connect them directly without burning
my circuit board?

Chester H. Lin, M.D.

Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China

For years, computer users have been
struggling with the nonstandard RS-
232C serial interface protocol. There is
much less uniformity than the designa¬
tion “standard” implies. The newer RS-
422 protocol has come along and isn't
being implemented with any more consis¬
tency than the older standard. With both
methods, workable connections are fre¬
quently dictated by individual software
packages—for example, some software
watches the RTS/CTS pair for handshak¬
ing and ignores DTS/DSR, while other
software may do the reverse. Other pro¬
grams do both or neither, ignoring hand¬
shaking entirely or doing it in software
withXON/XOFF.

As with many RS-232C situations, the
solution to your problem of connecting a
Macintosh and an IBM PC XT is a null-
modem cable or adapter. That’s the easy
part, without the handshaking connec¬
tions. Connect the transmitted data pins
on each computer with the received data
pins on the other. The handshaking con¬
nections are a bit uncertain, and a bit of
trial and error with a breakout box may
be needed to determine the exact config¬
uration. I'd suggest you first try tying the
Mac port's pin 6 to the PC's 17and 18,
and the Mac's pin 7 to the PC's 9 and 16.
If that doesn 't work, try the Mac's pin 6

to the PC's 5 and 6, and the Mac'spin 7
to the PC's 4 and20. As a last resort, you
may be able to tie all handshaking inputs
true and use the system without hardware
handshaking (do it in software).

Serial interfacing is more a black art
than a logical science. Determining the
correct connections is often a matter of
systematically trying each of the possible
hookups until something works. The
buffers and level translators used in
serial interfaces, such as the 1488/1489
ICs, are designed to withstand connec¬
tions between two outputs pulling in op¬
posite directions. There is little likelihood
of your damaging your computers by ex¬
perimenting. —Steve

IN ASK BYTE, Steve Ciarcia, a computer con¬
sultant and electronics engineer, answers
questions on any area of microcomputing and
his Circuit Cellar projects. The most repre¬
sentative questions will be answered and pub¬
lished. Send your inquiry to

Ask BYTE

One Phoenix Mill Lane

Peterborough, NH 03458

Due to the high volume of inquiries, we
cannot guarantee a personal reply. All letters
and photographs become the property of
Steve Ciarcia and cannot be returned.

The Ask BYTE staff includes manager
Harv Weiner and researchers Eric Albert,
Tom Cantrell, Bill Curlew, Ken Davidson,
Jeannette Dojan, Jon Elson, Frank Kuech-
mann, Tim McDonough, Edward Nisley, Dick
Sawyer, Robert Stek, and Mark Voorhees.

Include Schematics, Please

Dear Steve,

For about a year, I’ve been trying to
get a schematic and parts for an IBM
AT-compatible board without success
(the board is the same one JDR Micro¬
devices calls MCT-ATMB). I own two of
these boards, but one has a bad program¬
mable array logic (PAL). The good PAL
cannot be copied because the security
link has been burned away.

I have talked to many wholesalers and
retailers, including JDR Microdevices.

None of the dealers I talked to can get
schematics or parts for the boards. All
boards are exchanged and sent to Taiwan
for repair.

I am worried about the future of con¬
sumer electronics in the country if for¬
eign countries are allowed not to supply
data and parts for repairing their prod¬
ucts. Has this country come to the sad
state of affairs that we will now be de¬
pendent on other countries for repairing
our products? It wouldn’t cost much to
include a schematic with a product. Has
it come to the point that we need a law
requiring all imported electrical prod¬
ucts to include a schematic?

What’s going to happen two years
down the road when the dealer you
bought your board from is out of business
and you don’t know where he got it, as in
my case?

Wayne Anderson
Mesa, AZ

The situation you've run into isn't
unique. Unfortunately, the solution isn't
quite the one you 're looking for.

I suspect that the reason you 're having
trouble getting parts is simply that it's not
economical to repair very low-cost elec¬
tronics. Look at it this way: That mother¬
board retails for about $350. The actual
manufacturing cost is under 30 percent-
let's say $100. Repair technician time,
counting overhead and test equipment, is
about $100 per hour, and diagnosing
problems can take more hours than you
can shake a stick at.

Figuring your time at $100 per hour,
how many system boards did you waste
while tracking the problem down to that
PAL?

I don't think we need more laws re¬
garding imports on the books. After all,
you had a clear choice: Buy a stock IBM
system from an established IBM dealer,
with all the support and repair built into
the price, or buy a clone with no support.
You get exactly what you pay for, and I
think that's exactly the way it should be.
Folks who need the support are buying
IBM; the rest of us aren't.

continued

38 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

in’de-pen’dent (in’di-pen’dent)

adj. 1. not influenced by others in opinion,
conduct, etc. 2. not affiliated; sovereign in
authority, -n. (in’de-pen-dence) someone
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FACT:

Many major dealers specializing in programming
tools for personal computers are legal affiliates of
companies who also publish development software.

FACT:

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not affiliated to any company that has ever been in
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When you come to Programmer’s Connection,
you’ll find our knowledgeable, non-com-
misioned salespeople and technical consult¬
ants will give you an unbiased look at the
products we carry.

Please join us in our Declaration of Indepen¬
dence. Call Programmer’s Connection today
and be sure to ask for your FREE subscription
to the Connection, our 120 page comprehen¬
sive buyer's guide. It contains descriptions for
over 800 products by more than 300 manufac¬
turers, and informative articles by leaders in
the programming industry.

CALL for Products Not Listed Here

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Prices, Availability, Terms and Conditions are subject to change.
©Copyright 1988 Programmer's Connection Incorporated

PROGRAMMERS CONNECTION

386 products

386 ASM/386 LINK byPharLap Software .

386 DEBUGGER by PharLap Software .

NDPC-386 by MicmWay .

NDP ForTran-386 by McroWay.

PC-MOS/386 Single-User by Tbe Software Link .

PC-MOS/386 5-User by The Software Unk .

PC-MOS/386 25-User by The Software Unk .

VM/386 bylGC .

blaise products

ASYNCH MANAGER Specify C or Pascal .

C TOOLS PLUS/5.0.

PASCAL TOOLS/TOOLS 2.

POWER SCREEN Supports C and Pascal .

Turbo ASYNCH PLUS/4.0.

Turbo C TOOLS.

Turbo POWER TOOLS PLUS/4.0.

borland products

Paradox 2.0 by AnsaJBorland .

Paradox 386 by AnsaJBodand .

Paradox Network Pack by Ansa/Borland .

Quattro: The Professional Spreadsheet.

Sidekick Plus.

Sprint: The Professional Word Processor. New

Turbo Assembler & Debugger. New

Turbo Basic Compiler.

Turbo Basic Support Products All Varieties .

Turbo C Compiler. New Version

Turbo C Professional. New

Turbo Pascal Compiler. New Version

Turbo Pascal Professional. New

Turbo Pascal Database Toolbox.

Turbo Pascal Developer’s Toolkit.

Turbo Pascal Editor Toolbox.

Turbo Pascal Gameworks Toolbox.

Turbo Pascal Graphix Toolbox.

Turbo Pascal Numerical Methods Toolbox.

Turbo Pascal Tutor.

Turbo Prolog Compiler.

Turbo Prolog Toolbox.

Other Borland products.

c language

C++ byZORTECH . New

C_talk by C/VS.

Eco-C88 Modeling Compiler by Ecosoft .

Guidelines C+ + by Guidelines Software .

Lattice C Compiler DOS & OS/2, from Lattice .

Mark Williams Let’s C with FREE csd .

Turbo Programmer/C by ASCII . New

WATCOM C6.5 by WATCOM Group . New Version

database management

Clarion Development System by Clarion . New

Clipper by Nantucket .

dBASE III Plus by Ashton-Tate .

dBFast dBASE III Plus Comp bydBFast .

List

Ours

495

399

195

159

595

539

595

539

195

179

595

539

995

869

245

219

175

135

129

175

135

129

725

525

895

639

995

725

247

179

200

129

200

139

150

105

100

150

105

250

179

150

105

250

179

100

395

285

100

• 100

150

115

100

CALL

100

150

139

100

295

259

450

289

499

399

295

269

695

595

695

459

695

399

FoxBASE+ by Fox Software . 395 249

FoxBASE+/386 by Fox Software . 500 399

FrontRunner by Ashton-Tate . 195 175

Geniferbybyfe/. 395 269

golden bow products

Vcache. 60 57

Vfeature Hard Disk Utility . 80 74

Vfeature Deluxe HardDiskUtility . 120 111

Vopt Hard Disk Optimization Utility . 60 57

lahey computer products

F77L-EM/16. 695 649

F77L-EM/32. 895 829

F77L-FORTRAN Compiler. 477 439

Lahey Personal Fortran 77. 95 89

with Toolkit . 119 105

microsoft products

Microsoft BASIC Compiler. 295 219

Microsoft C Compiler 5 w/CodeView . 450 299

Microsoft COBOL Compiler w/Tools . New Version 900 659

Microsoft FORTRAN Optimizing Comp . 450 299

Microsoft Macro Assembler. 150 105

Microsoft Mouse All Varieties . CALL CALL

Microsoft OS/2 Programmer’s Toolkit. 350 239

Microsoft Pascal Compiler. 300 199

Microsoft QuickBASIC 4. 99 69

Microsoft QuickC. 99 69

Microsoft Windows. 99 69

Microsoft Windows 386. 195 129

Microsoft Windows Development Kit. 500 329

Other Microsoft products. CALL CALL

modula-2 language

LOGITECH Modula-2 Development System. 249 199

Modula-2 Compiler Pack. 99 79

Modula-2 Toolkit. 169 139

LOGITECH Modula-2 OS/2. New 349 279

LOGITECH Modula-2 Window Package. 49 47

TopSpeed Modula-2 by JensenS, Partners . New 100 89

persoft products

SmartMOVE. 149 129

SmarTERM 220. 195 179

SmarTERM 240 . 345 299

periscope products

Periscope I with 512K Board . 695 559

Periscope 11 with NMI Breakout Switch . 175 139

Periscope Il-X Software only . 145 105

Periscope III 10 MHz version . 1395 1119

peter norton products

Dan Bricklin’s Demo II. 195 179

Norton Commander. 89 65

Norton Editor. 75 59

Norton Guides Specify Language . 100 65

For OS/2 . 150 109

Norton Utilities. 100 59

Norton Utilities Advanced Edition. 150 109

ORDERING INFORMATION

FREE SHIPPING. Orders within the USA (lower 48
states only) are shipped FREE via UPS Ground. Call
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Smalltalk language

Smalltalk/V. 100 89

Smalltalk/V 286. 200 175

Smalltalk/V Support Utilities All Varieties . CALL CALL

other products

Actor by The Whitewater Group . 495 449

APL*PLUS PC by STSC . 695 529

Brief by Solution Systems . 195 CALL

Carbon Copy Plus by Meridian Technology . 195 135

db/LIB Database Library by AJS Publishing . 139 125

Desqview from Quarterdeck . 130 115

Desqview API Products All Varieties . CALL CALL

Epsilon EMACS-type Text Editor by Lugam . 195 169

Flow Charting 11+ by Patton & Patton . 229 189

Intelligence/Compiler by IntelligenceWare . 490 479

Mace Utilities by Paul Mace Software . 99 85

MathCAD by MathSoft . 349 319

Microport Products All Vaneties . CALL CALL

MICROSTAT-II Statistics Pack by Ecosoft . 395 359

MIRROR II bySOFTKIDNE . New 70 63

STATGRAPHICS by STSC . 895 699

TLIB Version Control by Burton Systems Software . 100 89

5 Station LAN . 300 269

Turbo Programmer for Turbo Pascal, by ASCII . 389 309

XENIX System V All Varieties by SCO . CALL CALL

Turbo Programmer for Turbo Pascal, by ASCII . 389 309

XENIX System V All Varieties by SCO . CALL CALL

Circle 208 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 • B Y T E 39

Circle 107 on Reader Service Card

^ GW Instruments, Inc. _

VT/ 35 Medford St. • Somerville, MA 02143

The Macintosh Data Acquisition Company

DATA

ACQUISITION
ON THE
MACINTOSH

Advanced hardware and
software solutions for all

ASK BYTE

But look at the economics again. If that
$6000 IBM system dies, the company will
swap the board and get you back on the
air. The defective board isn't repaired;
it's scrapped. After the warranty runs
out, you 're in the same boat: IBM doesn't
supply schematics for its boards any
more, either, and the company doesn't
repair them. You might have to replace a
$2000 system board instead of a $350
one.

All in all, I think the only way out is to
buy another system board and use the one
you've got for a wall hanging. It's expen¬
sive, but any other choice is more expen¬
sive still. —Steve

Programming Embedded
Microprocessors

Dear Steve,

I am an electrical engineer looking
after the operation and maintenance of
some of the sophisticated equipment in
power stations and substations—equip¬
ment like sequential event recorders,
digital fault recorders, microprocessor-
based alarm systems, and programmable
logic controllers. These come under the
category of microprocessor-embedded
systems.

Last year I subscribed to BYTE to im¬
prove my proficiency in troubleshooting
and maintenance work. I have had some
introductions to microprocessors during
my postgraduate education, and I am
conversant in 8085 assembly language.
While studying BYTE, I felt its contents
and coverage were beyond my level, so I
decided to seek your guidance.

Please let me know the names of some
good books and microprocessor journals
dealing with 8-bit microprocessor prod¬
ucts being used in industry as embedded
controllers. I would specifically wel¬
come books related to troubleshooting
procedures, because the documents pro¬
vided by the manufacturers are invari¬
ably sketchy and incomplete. Also,
please let me know of any books dealing
with the design and application of pro¬
grammable logic controllers.

Lai Singh
Najran, Saudi Arabia

Listed below are several books that I
can recommend to help you with applying
and programming embedded micropro¬
cessors. In addition to the microcon¬
troller handbook, Intel publishes a com¬
plete series of guides and application
notes describing the various micropro¬
cessors that the company manufactures.
Contact Intel at the address listed below
to receive a complete catalog of Intel
books and literature.

Z-80 and 8080 Assembly Language Pro¬
gramming by Kathe Spracklen (Rochelle
Park, NJ: Hayden Book Co., 1979).

8080 and Z80 Assembly Language by
Alan R. Miller (New York: John Wiley &
Sons, 1981).

Intel Embedded Controller Handbook
(Intel Literature Sales, P. O. Box 58130,
Santa Clara, CA, 95952).

In addition to my monthly column in
BYTE, I have begun publishing a maga¬
zine entitled Circuit Cellar Ink, which
specifically deals with applying electron¬
ic solutions to real problems. Subscrip¬
tion information is available at the end of
my recent columns in BYTE. —Steve

A Circuit Struck Dumb

Dear Steve,

I’m a longtime reader and fan of Cir¬
cuit Cellar, and I’ve learned a lot from
reading about your projects over the
years. From time to time, I’ve even built
some of my own projects after being in¬
fluenced by your designs.

Back in June of 1981, your project of
the month was a low-cost speech-synthe¬
sizer interface using National “Digi-
talker” components. I obtained such a
chip set and built a slightly modified ver¬
sion of the circuit to go on the home-brew
bus extension I had placed inside the
video monitor of my trusty TRS-80
Model 1. It worked flawlessly from the
start. Over the years, I’ve come to appre¬
ciate the clearly enunciated warnings and
messages that my computer would speak
to me while I was looking in another di¬
rection reading data statements, keying
in bank transactions, or whatever.

Two years ago, I finally became MS-
DOS-compatible when I bought a new
Tandy 1000A. At last, I had a built-in bus
for projects. Alas, I now have a young
family, so I can’t spend as much time
pursuing hardware projects. One that I
really wanted to accomplish, though,
was to equip the new machine with voice
capabilities. Since nobody seems to be
writing articles for simple projects for
these new machines, I opted to try and
modify my old design for the Tandy’s
PC-ROM vocabulary that I had pur¬
chased. I used the Tandy 1000 technical
reference manual and your article enti¬
tled “Build the Circuit Cellar MPX-16
Computer System,” Parts 1 and 2 (No¬
vember and December 1982) as guide¬
lines for the circuit I came up with.

Unfortunately, the circuit doesn’t
work. I get no sound from the speaker.

continued

40 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

NASA FLIES WITH
AND SO CAN YOU

The National Aeronautics and Space
Administration is a regular Proteus
buyer. So are thousands of profession¬
als, as well as small and large businesses
nationwide. Including Xerox, GE,
Dupont, the U.S. Government, MIT and
Harvard. And with good reason:

Nationally Acclaimed
Performance And Support.

"The Proteus is one of the fastest desk¬
top computers we tested. Quality has not
been compromised , yet this performance sys¬
tem par excellence was info

priced SO low." Dec., 1987 . “WORLD

"The Proteus 386/16MHz is markedly
faster than any other PC we've worked

with-including the Compaq ■ _,

Deskpro 386/20!" jan., m SH

Compatibility Guaranteed.

Every Proteus is American made from
the ground up. And guaranteed
compatible with all IBM PGAT
software and add-on prod¬
ucts. As well as with
DOS, OS/2, UNIX,
XENIX, NOVELL and
all major
CAD sys¬
tems. None
is alien to
Proteus!

The Most Extraordinary
Suppor t I n The Industry.

We don't leave you out in orbit
after we make the sale, either.

Proteus has a contract with a nation¬
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If something should go wrong with
your Proteus system during the first 15
months, we'll send a qualified techni¬
cian to your site to fix it. Free!

Just call our toll-free technical support
hotline any time you have a question or
need help. We'll take care of the rest.

OTEUS PCs.

Satisfaction

Guaranteed.

If you're not fully
satisfied with your
Proteus purchase, re¬
turn it during the first
30 days for a full
refund.

Standard FeaturesA

386A \

:ache\\

386 Y

286 V

V GTX \

286e\

INTEL CPU

80386

80286

SPEED MHZ

20/16/6

20/6

12/6

8/6

WAIT STATE

ZERO

SYSTEM MEMORY

!024Ktol6MB

~ 64OK to 16MB

640K to 16MB

CACHEMEMORYSIZE

64KB

32KB

KBD. SELECTABLE SPEEDS

YES

COPROCESSORSUPPORT

80287/387

80387

80287

32-BITSLOTS

16-BITSLOTS

8BITSLOT5

SERIAL PORTS

PARALLEL PORT

HARDDISK/FD.CTLR.

YES

1.2MB 5V4” OR 1.44MB 3.5” FD.

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ROM BASED SETUP/DIAGNOSTICS

YES

POWERSUPPLY

200W

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SEAGATE, MINISCRIBE, MAXTOR HARD DISKS FROM $279. VGA/EGA ADAPTORS: VIDEO 7. SIGMA, An, EVEREX
FROM $149. MEMORY UPGRADES, COPROCESSORS. MODEMS AT LOW PRICES.

Proteus 386Ao Pt 20 MHz

Custom Configured With
Tomorrow s Technology.

Proteus computers were custom con¬
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whether you need only one system
or a hundred, we'll custom config¬
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From a long list of third party,
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Including 3.5' microfloppy
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controllers with ESDI and SCSI
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resolution VGA graphics.

IN N): 201-288-8629
For tech support 1 -800-541 -8933

IINH-O

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hot rod'!" "Among the top

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MONOCHROME SYSTEM $ 1QQ £
WITH A 40MB, 28MS HARD DISK . “V 7 J

EGA COLOR SYSTEM
WITH A 40MB, 28MS HARD DISK

VGA SYSTEM (800x600)

WITH A 40MB, 28MS HARD DISK

Proteus 286

$ 3295

$ 3395

im can
keep its PC/AT
and PS/2 com¬
puters; I'll take the
Proteus 286GTX before those any time. I
never want to be without it „

i" CompuServe

again! Ernest Mau, Editor on line today

"Fastest machine in the
comparison. A superb value"

INFO

WORLD

MONOCHROME SYSTEM

WITH A 40MB HARD DISK.

$ 1895

EGA COLOR SYSTEM

WITH A 40MB HARD DISK.

$ 2295

VGA SYSTEM (800x600)

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$ 2509

PROTEUS 286E

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377 Rt. 17 So, Airport 17 Ctr, Hasbrouck Hts, NJ 07604 • Telex 510-610-0960 • FAX 201-288-9518
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SOFTWARE

DATA BASE MANAGEMENT

Clipper.$415

dBase III Plus.369

dBase III LAN.599

DB-XL Diamond.107

Eureka.99

Genifer .188

Nutshell.72

Paradox 2.0.415

PFS: Professional File.119

Q&A.185

Q& A Write.105

Rapid File.182

Revelation.459

R:BaseForDOS .425

Reflex .88

VP Expert.109

VP Info.56

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Harvard Total Project Mgr. II ... $309

Microsoft Project 4.0 .287

Timeline 2.0 .259

WORD PROCESSORS

Easy Extra .

Word (Microsoft) .

Multimate Advantage II .

PFS: Professional Write

Volkswriter3.

Volkswriter Deluxe Plus..

Webster New World Writer .

Webster Pro Spell Checker.

Webster Thesaurus ..

Word Perfect.

Word Perfect Executive ..

Word Perfect Library ..

Wordstar Pro Pack 4.0 .

Wordstar 2000 Plus Personal ... 205

DESKTOP PUBLISHING

Newsmasterll .$39

Pagemaker. Call

PFS: First Publisher.65

Ventura Publishing.475

GRAPHICS

Energraphics .

$186

Freelance Plus.

309

Generic CAD w/Dot Plot 3.0

.72

Harvard Graphics 2.1.

.239

In-A-Visign.

260

Microsoft Chart 3.0 .

229

News Room .

.30

News Room Professional.

.42

Printmaster Plus.

PrintShop .

.32

Turbo Graphix Tool Box.

.58

VPGraphix.

.56

Windows Drawl! w/Clip Art ....

.159

MICE

PC Mouse w/Paint

(Buss or Serial).

$85

PC Mouse

w/Autosketch (Buss or Serial)

.99

Microsoft Buss Mouse 1.0.

.92

Microsoft Serial Mouse 1.0 ...

.92

MS Buss Mouse w/CADD ....

.107

MS Serial Mouse w/CADD ...

.107

MS Buss Mouse w/Windows .

122

MS Serial Mouse w/Windows .

122

Optimouse

(PC Mouse) w/Dr. Halo III ...

...78

INTEGRATIVE SOFTWARE

Ability Plus .

$137

Enable 2.0.

352

Framework III .

.425

MS Works.

PFS: 1st Choice.

.76

Smart Software System .

389

Symphony.

.435

ACCOUNTING

ACCPAC Easy .

$49

Bedford Accounting.

.139

Computer Associates.

Call

DAC Easy Accounting.

...53

DAC Easy Payroll.

...53

In-House Accountant.

.105

One Write Plus 2.0.

.117

One Write A/R, A/P, Payroll ...

.117

Time Slips III.

109

UTILITIES

1 DIR Plus.$46

Bookmark.56

Brooklyn Bridge.69

Carousel 2.0.43

Copy II PC.18

Copywrite.40

Corefast.89

Cruise Control .29

Disk Optimizer 2.0.38

Disk Technician .56

Double DOS 4.0.Call

DS Back-Up Plus.46

Fastback.75

Fastback Plus.86

Keyworks .53

Mace Utilities .47

Microsoft Windows 286.57

Norton Commander.43

Norton Editor .35

Norton Utilities 4.0.46

Note It Plus.45

PC Tools Deluxe.36

Printworks for Lasers.67

Referee.

Sidekick Plus
Sideways....

Smart Notes .

SQZ Plus.

Superkey.

Unlock D Plus_

Unlock Masterkey
XTree Professional.

ACCESSORIES

Copy II Option Board Deluxe

Masterpiece.

Masterpiece Plus.

Masterpiece Remote.

Mouse Pad by Mousetrac ....
Summasketch 12 x 12 Plus..

LANGUAGES

Basic Compiler (Microsoft) .... $175

C Compiler (Microsoft) .259

Cobol Compiler (Microsoft).512

Fortran Compiler (Microsoft) 4.0 259

Lattice C Compiler.209

Macro Assembler (Microsoft) .... 86
Pascal Compiler (Microsoft) .... 175

Quick Basic 4.0.57

Quick C.57

Ryan McFarlan Fortran.379

Ryan McFarlan Cobol .609

Turbo Basic.58

Turbo C.58

Turbo Pascal 4.0.58

Turbo Prolog.89

Turbo Prolog Toolbox.89

TRAINING

Chuck Yeager

Adv. Flight Simulator .

Lets C .

$25

. . .38

Mavis Beacon Typing.

MS Learning DOS.

MS Flight Simulator.

PC Logo .

Turbo Tutor 4.0.

...42

Typing Instructor Encore.

.. .27

Typing Tutor IV.

. 27

SPREADSHEETS

Cambridge Analyst.

$80

4 Word.

...55

HAL.

Lotus 1-2-3 Ver. 2.01.

.295

Lotus Manuscript.

309

Lotus Report Writer.

MS Excel.

.285

Multiplan 3.0 (Microsoft).

.111

PFS Professional Plan.

...52

Quattro .

.138

Supercalc 4.

.275

Twin Classic .

.32

VP Planner.

.. .47

VP Planner Plus.

Call

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HARDWARE

To Place an Order: 1-800-528-1054 • Order Processing (602) 944-1037

To Follow Up on an Order: (602) 944-2552 10:00 a.m-3:00 p.m. Mon.-Fri.

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I ivff i ORDER LINE

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PRINTERS

Alps

Allegro.$339

ALQ224E .599

ALQ318.610

ALQ324E .749

2418 .885

2424.955

Other Models.Call

AST Turbo Lazer .4310

Citizen Printers

120D .149

180D .165

MSP 40.319

MSP 45 .465

MSP 50 .399

MSP 55 .529

Premier 35 .509

Tribute 124.Call

Diconix150 .309

300.480

Epson Printers.Call

Hewlett-Packard

DeskJet .

.719

Lazer Jet Series II _

.1805

Paint Jet.

.1090

NEC

P2200 .

.335

P5200 .

520

P5300 .

.685

Other Models.

.Call

Okidata .

.Call

320.

330

390.

.465

Lazerline6 .

1339

Panasonic

10801 M2.

159

1091 1 M2.

.199

3131 .

.305

3151 .

.475

Lazer4450 .

.1635

Star Micronics .

. Call

Toshiba

321 SL.

.539

341 SL.

.709

351 SX.

.999

Page Lazer.

.2415

DISK DRIVES

Bernoulli Box

10 Meg.

20 Meg .

40 Meg .

Beta Ext .

Beta Int .

Seagate

20 MG w/WD Controller

251-1 .

AT 40 MEG Full Height .

Other Models.

Teac

1.2 MEG AT.

Floppy F55BR.

Toshiba

3.5 Dr720K.

3.5 Dr 1.4MB.

HARD CARDS

Plus 20 MG.

Plus 40 MG.

KEYBOARDS

Keytronics

KB5151 .

KB5153.

KB101 .

MONITORS

Amdek410.

432.

V210A .

NEC

Multisync II.

Multisync Plus .

Multisync XL.

Monographic System

Other Models.

Princeton Ultrasync

Samsung.

Sony Multiscan (1303)
Mitsubishi

Diamond Scan.

Zenith

1490 .

$889

1255

1559

1019

.775

$525

659

$130

149

.85

. 585

899

2069

.1299

Call

.485

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.535

.499

Uninterruptible Power Source

BOARDS

AST

HotShot .

Six Pack Plus .

Xformer .

3G+ II.

Other Models.

ATI

EGA Wonder.

VIP.

Hercules

Color Card .

Graphics Card Plus.

Incolor.

Intel

Inboard 386 PC .

Inboard 386 w/cable .

4020 .

80287-6 .

80287-16 .

Orchid

Designer VGA .

Tiny Turbo.

Twin Turbo.

VGA.

Paradise

Autoswitch 350.

VGA 4- .

VGA Professional .

Video-7

VGA.

Vega Deluxe.

V-RAM.

TERMINALS

Wyse

30.

50.

85.

$359

.115

.545

.219

Call

.175

265

.145

.170

.199

935

1029

.325

.175

.555

.299

249

359

220

.159

259

Call

269

.180

475

$285

.369

439

COMPUTERS

AST

Model 80

Model 140

Model 340

Model 390

Other Models .

NEC

Multispeed EL II
Toshiba
T-1000 .

T-1200F.

T-1200H.

1200FB .

1200HB.

T-3200 .

T-5100.

Wyse

386.

Zenith Supersport/2

Supersport 20 MG.

Supersport 286/Model 2

MODEMS

Hayes

1200.

1200B .

2400B .

Prometheus

1200B w/Software.

2400B w/Software.

Other Models.

US Robotics

Password 1200 .

Courier 2400.

Courier 2400E .

HST9600 .

$1375

2815

4205

5839

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3445

129

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oftm

Wy.

ASK BYTE

BASIC calls to the port address produce
nothing on OUT instructions, and INP in¬
structions seem to indicate that the bus is
still “floating.” It’s as though the port
address is not being decoded. I have
limited test equipment, but supply volt¬
ages seem correct on the card. I swapped
all duplicated components with the old
working card from the TRS-80, which
continues to work, leading me to believe
that the components are fine. I’ve even
checked the point-to-point wiring I used
on the project; nothing seems amiss.

Since this is my first (and only) project
on the PC-bus, I’m not sure about the
logic I used. I suspect I may be overlook¬
ing some glaring design error. When I
first tried the circuit, I didn’t decode the
AEN (address enable) line. The com¬
puter failed to boot properly, which
showed me the importance of that line.
Are there any other important things I
need to consider?

Victor H. Klein II
Newton, PA

Debugging logic at long range is al¬
ways a little tricky, particularly if you
don *t have a scope to see what’s going
on. Without going back through the specs
again, I bet that old speech generator just
can’t keep up with the new bus speeds.
Probably the best way to get your circuit
working is to hitch it to a parallel port
where it’s isolated from the bus and you
can use a voltmeter to check the voltage
levels.

The idea is fairly simple: The data in¬
puts come from the printer data outputs,
the WR signal is the printer’s strobe, and
the INTR bit goes back into the printer’s
BUSY line. In your case, you can use one
of the printer port’s control outputs to di¬
rectly select which ROM bank to use. See
table 1 for a diagram of the connections.

Table 1: Port connections for
MM54104.

Printer Description

port pin

WR to MM54104 pin 1

DO (least significant bit)

D7 (most significant bit)

INTR from MM54104 pin 6

ROM select to LSI 39 pin 3

Logic ground

Remember to disconnect your existing
circuitry from the pins that connect di¬
rectly to the printer port. You ’ll also need
to come up with a power supply, but a
simple wall transformer with a 9- or 12-
volt DC output will suffice. Wrap a box
around the whole affair and stick the
speaker on top.

The next trick is to figure out the
printer port address. The fastest and
least ambiguous way is to use DEBUG,
which is an experience everyone should
have at least once. Fire up DEBUG, type
D40: 8L6, and press the Enter key. You ’ll
see something like this:

0040:0008 BC 03 78 03 78 02

Each pair of hexadecimal numbers
after the address corresponds to a printer
port address. The above string of pairs
shows three printer ports: LPT1 uses
03BCh, LPT2 uses 0378h, and LPT3 uses
02 78h. Your system addresses may differ,
but the ports are always LPT1, LPT2,
and LPT3, in that order. Any ports that
aren’t installed will be 0—you can’t use
such ports for output.

Decide which printer port you want to
use, and write down its address. Most
people use LPT1 for a real printer, so
you’ll probably want to use LPT2 and
LPT3. Buying a printer card just for the
speech system might be a good idea if
you ’ve got only one now. (I’mpretty sure
the Tandy 1000 will take a standard
printer card.)

Let’s suppose you set up the address
and word number like this (I haven’t
checked this BASIC code out, but it
should get you started):

MMP0RT = &H0278
MMW0RD = 0

Then, to get the system to say the word,
use

OUT MMP0RT,MMW0RD
OUT MMPORT+2,1
OUT MMPORT+2,0

The ROM banks are selected by bit 3 in
port MMPORT+2, so to select the other
bank, use MMR0M = 8, and say the word
using

OUT MMP0RT,MMW0RD
OUT MMPORT+2,1+MMR0M
OUT MMP0RT,MMR0M

I’ll avoid telling you which bank is
which, because that bit gets inverted at
least once between BASIC and the decod¬
er. The odds are that I’ll be wrong no
matter what I say.

To check the status bit and loop until
it’s 0, use

1000 IF INP(MMP0RT+1) AND &H80
GOTO 1000

There’s also a 50-50 chance I’ve
messed up the BUSY bit, so if that gives bi¬
zarre results, try checking for a 0 bit in¬
stead of a 1 bit. The same logic applies if
you write the code in Pascal, C, or as¬
sembly language: Put the word number
out to the port, then toggle the strobe bit.
All the usual PC languages can handle
direct port I/O, so you shouldn’t have any
trouble. —Steve

Printing in Reflected Type

Dear Steve,

I am looking for a program that will
enable me to print a page of text (eventu¬
ally with some pictures) in reflected type
(using a laser printer or dot-matrix
printer). I need reflected type because
the output is printed on a particular type
of film that is exposed afterward. Cur¬
rently, my colleagues and I simply print
the usual way and reverse the film after
encountering the characters.

If the type were reversed, we could
place the film right, and since the light
would pass through the film before en¬
countering the characters, no distortion
would occur.

I’ve sent inquiries to several CAD
firms and have been told that their pro¬
grams wouldn’t be able to handle text,
because of problems with “reference
points”—whatever that means.

Desktop Publishing packages like
PageMaker and Ventura can’t help me
out, either, at least not here in Belgium.
Have you ever heard of a software pro¬
gram that could help me?

Paul Verbinnen
Brussels, Belgium

I have not seen software that will print
reflected type in a way you need. I have
seen ads for graphics programs that do
this in a limited way, but it appears to me
that you need two things: a program that
will transmit the characters to the printer
in reverse order, and a set of reversed
fonts for your printer. Since you are wor¬
ried about the distortion caused by trans¬
mitting the image through the film, I as¬
sume you won’t be satisfied with the
relatively low-quality fonts you could
make and download to an Epson or com¬
patible printer. Even the 24-pin models
only accept characters defined in an 18
by 24 dot, about half the number avail¬
able in laser printers.

continued

44 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

lUllgrass makes
internal and external
tape backup systems
for the IBM PC/XT/AT,
PS/2 or compatibles,
and an external
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1988 Tallgrass Technologies. Inc. "IBM" is a registered trademark ol International Business Machines. Inc. "Macintosh” and "Mac Plus" are trademarks ol Apple Computer, Inc.

Circle 257 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 258)

OCTOBER 1988 • B Y T E 45

Circle 133 on Reader Service Card

If you have PCs and VAXes,
you NEED these products!

ZSTEM software includes DEC
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ASK BYTE

Printing the characters in reverse
order from a straight text file is easy: I’ll
get to that later. Reversing the characters
is the task that will require work. I don't
know of any software that can do this.
There are some font-editing programs
available that might help. Here are some
that work with bit-mapped fonts:

SoftCraft Font Editor
SoftCraft

16 North Carrol St., Suite 500
Madison, WI53703
(800) 351-0500

FontGen IV
VS Software
209 West Second St.

Little Rock, AR 72216
(501) 376-2083

Publishers Type Foundry
ZSoft

1950 Spectrum Cir., Suite A-495
Marietta, GA 30067
(404) 428-0008

An alternative to creating reversed
fonts using a font editor is to write a pro¬
gram that reverses an existing font by re¬
versing the order of the bytes. For exam¬
ple, an R in an 8 by 9 dot-matrix printer
download font would be stored as in table
2a. Table 2b also shows the result after
swapping bytes so that byte 1 becomes
byte 8, 2 becomes 7, and so on.

Table 2: Reversing the font

definition for an “R.

(a)

(b)

byte -> 12345678

12345678

01111100

00111110

01000010

01000001

10000010

01000010

01111100

00111110

01000100

00100010

01000010

01000001

10000010

00000000

Reversing the order of bytes is simply a
matter of reading them into an array and
writing them back out to a new file in re¬
versed order. That is, fill the array from
1 to 8, and write the bytes from 8 to 1. Vm
not sure that laser printer bit-mapped
fonts are stored the same way, but if
they 're not, the operation of reversing the
bits is still possible, but more compli¬
cated. —Steve ■

46 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

“An exceptional value.

I was impressed.

It wins the cost-
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John Dvorak. PC Magazine

c apaKof f the feat “res
P ro 9rams costing m^ man ^ men t

s L ^ H , re ^ 1 ! aSniuch ''

nne, PCM Magazine

We appreciated those kind words. They helped
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Circle 193 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 ‘BYTE 47

DAZZLING PERFORMANCE.

12MHz, 16MHz and 20MHz
'286 HARD DRIVE SYSTEMS

As high as 20MHz! Dazzling performance is yours with
one of these high performance full size ZEOS ’286 Systems.

Each comes complete with our standard features includ¬
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size case features room for up to 5 half-high drives, two of
which are internal. Incredible values.

■ 286/12— Complete 12.5MHz System with 512K of
Zero-Wait RAM, High Speed 32MB, 33ms Hard Drive and
all the standard ZEOS goodies. ONLY $1395.00

■ 286/16— Complete 16MHz system with 1MB RAM on
board and High Speed 32MB Hard Drive. Faster than a
’386 16MHz when running 16-bit software!

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■ 286/20— At 20MHz, it’s the fastest. Complete with our
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Dazzling Speed is all about. ONLY $2095.00

'286/SS

COMPLETE 12MHz '286
WITH 32MB HARD DRIVE

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■ 80286 CPU, 8/12.5 MHz Dual Speed, Keyboard Selectable.

■ Zero-Wait State RAM, 512K expandable to 4MB on the
motherboard (16MB System Total).

■ 32MB Hard Drive, 1.2MB Floppy Drive.

■ Ultra high speed Hard/Floppy controller. 1:1 interleave,
800 KB/sec transfer rate.

■ High Res 12" Amber Display with Tilt and Swivel Base.
Compatible graphics controller.

■ ZEOS Enhanced Keyboard, Pleasant Tactile/Click Feel.

■ Serial and Parallel Printer Ports.

■ Clock/Calendar with Battery Backup.

■ 6-16 and 2-8 bit expansion slots.

■ 80287 support, up to 12 MHz.

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48 BYTE- OCTOBER 1988

All prices and .specifications are .subject to change without notice. Please call for current details. Call for complete warranty details.

INCREDIBLE PRICES.

COMPLETE '386 VERTICAL SYSTEM.

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Acknowledged worldwide as the highest performance
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Ask about our 25MHz systems too!

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■ Ultra high speed Hard/Floppy controller. 1:1 interleave,
800 KB/sec transfer rate!

■ High Res 12" Amber Display with Tilt and Swivel Base.
Compatible graphics controller.

■ 101 Key ZEOS Tactile Click keyboard.

■ Serial and Parallel/Printer Ports.

■ Clock/Calendar with Battery Backup.

■ 2-32,4-16 and 2-8 bit slots.

■ 80287 and 80387 support.

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Circle 282 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 • BYTE 49

Book Reviews

The Conquest
of the Microchip

by Hans Queisser

Harvard University Press,
Cambridge, MA: 1988,

272pages, $24.95
(hardcover)

Reviewed by Hugh Kenner

N ature’s wonders include
rocks you can see
through—pieces of clear
quartz. But how did they get
here? Our forebears guessed
that these clear rocks had once
been,chunks of ice that myste¬
riously survived in an altered
state. So, borrowing Homer’s
word for clear ice, krystallos ,
our ancestors taught us to
speak of crystals. These had
something to do with symme¬
try; that was soon obvious.
Look at the orderly shapes
salts will assume as they
“crystallize” out of water.

By 1723, crystallography
was a name for a highly math¬
ematical science. And since
order seems a special case in a
random universe, what better
window onto future happen¬
ings than a seer’s crystal ball?
(No, I’m not being facetious;
that was really the crystal
ball’s theme.)

Crystalline wonders kept
multiplying. Around 1630, in
Bologna, Italy, a shoemaker/
alchemist named Casciarolo
chanced to make heavy stones
glow with cold light. (“He had
reduced barium sulfate to a
sulfide, but that would not be
understood for centuries,”
says author Hans Queisser.)
What he had discovered we
now call phosphorescence and
fluorescence. Today, “phos¬
phors” coat an annual 100
million square feet of new tele¬
vision tubes, and glass gets
treated with crystallite pow¬
der to make a billion fluores¬
cent tubes besides. That’s one

way to indicate how much
seeming magic we subject to
routine control.

We can do that because
we’ve merged quantum theory
with solid-state physics, and
so we’ve worked ourselves
free of an era when tinkerers,

in the manner of Casciarolo,
kept chancing on curious ef¬
fects no one could explain. A
main site of that crucial merg¬
er was Goettingen University,
where Queisser got his educa¬
tion. Later, he worked with
William Shockley in Silicon

Valley. At present, he directs
the Max Planck Institute for
Solid State Research in Stutt¬
gart, West Germany. Such
credentials make his Conquest
of the Microchip very much an
inside story.

The book could not be more
engagingly written. Its narra¬
tive commences with Gug-
lielmo Marconi, in 1914, dis¬
liking the fact that his iron¬
filing “coherer” (chanced
upon in 1890 and not at all
understood) was an unreliable
foundation indeed for the
coming wireless industry. The
future, it seemed, lay in a Ger¬
man discovery, the crystal de¬
tector, which wasn’t under¬
stood, either. How did it
manage to defy Ohm’s law?
And why did some crystals
work and others not?

In fact, so mysterious was
crystal behavior that Marco¬
ni’s industry would soon be
heading off on a long, clumsy
vacuum-tube detour. Tubes
used brute force; to get any re¬
sult at all, you had to heat a fil¬
ament red-hot. If that used up
Niagaras of power, at least the
tubes were reliable until they
burned out—and they always
burned out. The men who
fired up the ENIAC computer
(a base-10 machine, inciden¬
tally) could never really guar¬
antee that all 18,000 tubes
were functioning at once. The
one thing certain was the elec¬
tric bill, based on a steady
flow of 150 kilowatts.

Crystal radios did stay
around, cheap toys for attic
tinkerers. I remember buying
a kit for about a dollar. Today
I’m typing these words on a
computer, vastly more power¬
ful than ENIAC, that curbs
ENIAC’s appetite for wattage
by a factor of 1000—for the
crystal did return.

Its comeback began at
post-World War I Goettingen,
where Richard Pohl, unable to

continued

ALSO REVIEWED

An Introduction to Solid Modeling

Programs and Data Structures in C

C as a Second Language

Perceptrons

BASIC Mathematical Programs for Engineers
and Scientists

50 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

40 tracks'side at

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OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 51

BOOK REVIEWS

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get liquid air, had to forgo ex¬
periments with the tubes that
liquid air could help evacuate,
and wryly turned to crystals as
second-best. Then a lab mis¬
take that shattered a costly dia¬
mond sent him after tech¬
niques for growing pure
artificial crystals. By 1930,
much mystery had been pene¬
trated. Anomalous crystal be¬
havior, wanted and unwanted
alike, proved to turn on the
presence of minute impuri¬
ties—local irregularities in the
lattice. We now “dope” our
lab-grown crystals with the ir¬
regularity that gets just the ef¬
fect we seek.

In World War II Britain, the
cat’s-whisker crystal detec¬
tor, long discarded by the
radio industry, proved just the
thing for ultra-short-wave
radar. That brought germa¬
nium on-stage, and the point-
contact transistor (Shockley et
al. at Bell Labs, 1947) was es¬
sentially a germanium crystal
with two cat’s whiskers. Fin¬
icky cat’s whiskers plagued it
with reliability problems, and
though the junction transistor
soon got rid of whiskers, in
1955 the military was still
wishing that better than a
quarter of the units delivered
might fall within spec.

Next, silicon replaced ger¬
manium (I’m hurrying
through this). Soon, compa¬
nies that had spun off from
Shockley’s (who had long
since left Bell Labs for Cali¬
fornia) were into microproces¬
sors, microchip circuitry....
You’ve probably heard much
of this information presented
before, but Hans Queisser’s
version is more vivid and
insightful.

By halfway through his
book, Queisser is orchestrat¬
ing so many themes with such
dexterity that it’s breathtak¬
ing. Something that he never
forgets is the sociocultural
ground bass—the way, for in¬
stance, German science, re¬
membering the coercions of
two wars, kept aloof from in¬
dustry and practice. Then
there’s the invaluable Western
tradition of “skepticism, self-
awareness, and independent

work,” which produced the
great breakthroughs of the
1940s and 1950s but would
later erect barriers, unknown
in Japan, “between the univer¬
sities, the factories, and the re¬
search laboratories.” Con¬
sider, lastly, the Japanese
genius for basing mass pro¬
duction on mass experiments,
testing “every imaginable
combination of manufacturing
processes”and investigating
“every type of foreign admix¬
tures in the silicon crystal.”
Western observers at first
found that amusingly antlike.
Later on, they got nervous,
rightly.

For already, by the 1960s in
Silicon Valley, says Queisser,
“a field in which a few indi¬
viduals had paved the way was
turning into the anonymous
work of a number of experts.
Every form of technology
takes a similar route when it
leaves the laboratories for the
factories.” In Japan, he also
notes, “They do not consider
basic research and applica¬
tions as opposites. In their ter¬
minology, the opposite of
‘basic’ is not ‘applied,’ but
simply ‘not basic’; the oppo¬
site of ‘applied’ would be
something like ‘not applica¬
ble.’ ” This last they have
learned to shun.

Just such “impurities” as
make junction transistors
work also create what was no¬
ticed far earlier: the colors of
gemstones. When nature does
anything to catch our atten¬
tion, it’s by generating some¬
thing we can observe. And the
line between “observable”
and “applicable” is thin, each
being an interruption of the
bland. Save for our long pur¬
suit of applicability, we’d still
be surviving by smashing
clamshells with rocks.

Man’s microcosm once,
Queisser concludes, was sim¬
ply Man, a vexed model of uni¬
versal harmonies. Today, that
microcosm is the silicon crys¬
tal lattice, which we’re prob¬
ing for “the secrets of creation
and destruction, as well as
harmony and symmetry.”
Now it is “the macrocosm of

continued

52 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Circle 74 on Reader Service Card

Circle 99 on Reader Service Card

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BOOK REVIEWS

society” that “seeks the har¬
mony of the microcosm of the
atom.” And that is nothing
less than the present state of
our ages-long romance with
ordered crystals.

BRIEFLY NOTED

An Introduction to Solid
Modeling by Martti Miantylia,
Computer Science Press,
Rockville, MD: 1988, 401
pages, $42.95. Plenty of
books will teach you about
computer graphics, particu¬
larly about manipulating and
displaying images. Textbooks
abound describing algorithms
for hidden-line and hidden-
surface removal. Journal arti¬
cles will further direct you to
esoterica regarding the inter¬
action of light with material
objects to produce shadows,
reflections, and refractions
(ray tracing). And conference
proceedings will give you the
latest techniques on modeling
solid-surface properties, such
as color and texture.

On the other hand, learning
techniques for describing the
shapes of objects is more diffi¬
cult. Clearly, graphics pro¬
grammers need good ways to
represent shapes. Typically,
however, procedures for ren¬
dering an image on-screen re¬
quire a preexisting description
of the shape as “input.” In
short, discussions of represen¬
tation issues are much harder
to come by than discussions of
rendering issues.

An Introduction to Solid
Modeling remedies this defi¬
ciency significantly by focus¬
ing on a very important class
of representational methods—
solid modeling. The book is at
once comprehensive and ac¬
cessible to readers without a
strong background in com¬
puter graphics.

The first section surveys the
current techniques and pre¬
sents topics such as boundary
representations, curved sur¬
face patches, and volumetric
methods like solid geometry
and octrees. The second sec¬
tion describes in detail the
author’s own solid modeling

system, the Geometric Work-
Bench.

The explication of this tech¬
nique makes the book far more
than just a roundup of existing
knowledge. The Geometric
WorkBench is capable of mod¬
eling polyhedrons. It employs
a boundary representation of
solids: It describes a solid ob¬
ject by describing each piece
ofthe object’s surface. Specif¬
ically, the program recog¬
nizes a polyhedron as a col¬
lection of flat faces. The
complete solid model includes
a description of each of the
faces. Each face is a polygon
and so can be specified by the
list of straight edges that
bound it and the list of vertices
at which the edges meet.

Not every collection of
polygons constitutes a valid
solid model; the polygons
must fit together in a way that
leaves no holes and no over¬
laps. The Geometric Work-
Bench guarantees a model’s
validity at each step of con¬
struction. This guarantee is
the program’s most important
feature.

The system protects a
model’s integrity in two ways.
First, the modeler stores geo¬
metrical and topological in¬
formation separately. Geom¬
etry relates to dimension. The
geometry of a shape specifies
the position of each vertex, the
length of each edge, and the
size and orientation of each
face. Topology relates to con¬
nectedness. The topology of a
shape lists which edges meet at
each vertex and which faces
border one another. The topol¬
ogy therefore also tells wheth¬
er all of a model’s parts fit to¬
gether in a sensible way. The
program is able to more effi¬
ciently check integrity on one
hand and to scale the size of the
model on the other, because it
deals with topology and geom¬
etry separately.

Second, the Geometric
WorkBench restricts the users
to a small selection of opera¬
tors that provide them with the
means to modify a solid
model. Each application of an
operator corresponds to one

continued

54 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Circle 224 on Reader Service Card

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Circle 170 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 • B Y T E 55

When you want to talk computers...

ATARI COMPUTERS

800XL 64K Computer.84.99

130XE 132K Computer.139.00

520ST-FM RGB/Color Syst_789.00

1040ST Color System.Call

SF1224 Color Monitor.329.00

XF551 Disk Drive (XL/XE). . . .189.00

•tr » m i x x U IM i « » vv -
**-» '*. * t r * m. ■» « «, i. * 1 ■
— i » v * • • « i r i - •

Atari 800XL & XF551 Disk
Drive & Software *279

Includes: 800XL, 551 Drive, & Star Raiders,
Missile Command, Asterioids, Defender, Qix.

ATARI ST SOFTWARE

Access

Leaderboard Golf.24.99

Accolade

Test Drive.27.99

Avant Garde

PC Ditto (IBM Emulation).64.99

Michtron

Leatherneck .29.99

Soft Logik Corp.

Publishing Partner.64.99

Timeworks

Desktop Publisher.84.99

VIP

Professional Gem.119.00

Word Perfect Corp.

Word Perfect.189.00

AMIGA SOFTWARE

Absoft

AC Basic.139.00

Aegis Development

Animator/Images.89.99

Draw Plus.149.00

Sonix.49.99

Discovery Software

Marander II.31.99

Electronic Arts

Deluxe Video 1.2.89.99

Gold Disk Software

Pagesetter w/Text ed.89.99

Micro Illusions

Dynamic Cad .349.00

AMIGA SOFTWARE

Mimetics

Amigen Gen Lock.159.00

New Tek Inc.

Digi-View 2.0.149.00

Digi-Paint.44.99

Sub-Logic Corp.

Flight Simulator II.39.99

Word Perfect Corp.

Word Perfect.199.00

MACINTOSH PRODUCTS

OLYMPIA

NP-30 Mac 150 CPS 5 339

Hard Drives
CMS

MacStack 60 .899.00

Everex

40MB SCSI.999.00

60MB Tape Backup.899.00

PCPC

MacBottom HD45 .1149.00

Floppy Drives
Central Point

Magnum 800k.209.00

Mirror Technologies

800K Floppy External.199.00

Monitors

Network Specialties

High Top FPD.1199.00

Radius

Full Page Display.995.00

Two Page Display.1595.00

Sigma Designs

Laser View Display for II. . . .1,749.00

Memory Upgrades
Dove Computer

Mac Snap 2SE.359.00

Scanners

AST

Turboscan .1,349.00

Datacopy

730 Flatbed Scanner.1,199.00

Ast Premium 286 & 386 .Call

IBM PS/2 25, 30, 50, 60, 80.Call

Leading Edge.899.00

MS/DOS SYSTEMS

NEC APC-IV Powermate_2,399.00

PC-TOO 80286 1.2MB, 512K. .899.00
Zenith Laptops.Call

TOSHIBA

T-1000

Laptop

$799

MULTIFUNCTION CARDS

AST

6-Pak Plus 576 Board .149.00

Hot Shot 286 Accelerator.349.00

Hercules

Color Card.169.00

Graphics Card Plus.199.00

Intel

Inboard 386 Board.899.00

5th Generation

Logical Connection 256K.339.00

Quadram

Quad386XT 80386 PC-Upgr. . .899.00

Video 7

Vega V.G.A. Adapter.299.00

Zuckerboard

Color Card w/Parallel Port.89.99

WirfrR

Ashton-Tate

d-Base III +.389.00

Borland

Quattro .169.00

5th Generation

Fastback Plus.89.99

Fox Software

Fox Base & Development . . . .219.00

IMSI

Optimouse w/dr. Halo.89.99

Logitec

Hi-Res Buss Mouse.99.00

Lotus

Lotus 1.2.3 .299.00

Software Publishing

First Choice.99.99

Word Perfect Corp.

Word Perfect 5.0.249.00

MS/DOS SOFTWARE

COMPUTER MAIL ORDER

56 B Y T E • OCTOBER 1988

When you want to talk price.

MONITORS

Amdek

Video 21OA 12” Amber.89.00

Video 410 12”A/G/W . . . .(ea.) 139.00

Magnavox

7BM623 12” TTL Amber.99.00

CM8505 14” RGB/Composite .189.00
CM8515 14” RGB/Composite .269.00

9CM053 14” EGA.379.00

9CM082 14” VGA Display. . . .459.00
NEC

GS-1400 14” Monochr. TTL . .219.00
JC-1402 Multisync-ll.599.00

Packard Bell

PB-1418F 14” Flat TTL A/G/W.

.(ea.) 119.00

PB-1420CG 14” Mid-Res CGA 269.00
PB-1422EG 14” Hi-Res EGA. .369.00
PB-8426-MJ Uniscan Monitor .399.00
Princeton Graphics

Max-12 12” TTL Amber.149.00

Seiko

CM-1430 14”VGA Display_649.00

Magnavox CM 8762
14” RGB/Comp. $269

DRIVES

Atari

A A314 DS/DD ST Disk.219.00

SHD204 20MB ST Hard Drive .619.00
C.LTD (For Amiga)

C.LTD 20MB (A2000).769.00

C.LTD 33MB (A2000).879.00

C.LTD 44MB (A2000).1099.00

C.LTD 50MB (A2000).1139.00

C.LTD A500 SCSI Controller . .179.00
Indus

GT Disk Drive Atari XL/XE. . . .199.00
GTS-100 ST Drive .219.00

Racore

Jr. Expansion Chassis.299.00

Seagate Technologies

ST-225 20MB Drive .249.00

Supra

Atari ST 30 Meg Hard Drive . .689.00
Amiga 2000 20MB Hard/Drive .629.00

MODEMS

Anchor

6480 C64/128 1200 Baud .99.99

520 ST520/1040 1200 Baud ..129.00
1200E 1200 Baud External . . .129.00

Atari

XMM301 XL/XE 300 Baud.44.99

SX-212 St Modem .89.99

Avatex

1200 He External.99.99

2400 External.179.00

Best Products

2400 Baud V 2 Card w/software 149.00

Everex

Evercom 2400 Baud External .209.00

Anchor Lightning 2400 F/l
2400 Baud Internal $-| gg

Hayes

Smartmodem 300 Ext.

. . .159.00

Smartmodem 1200 Int.

. . .279.00

Packard Bell

1200 External.

. . . .89.99

2400 External.

. . .169.00

Practical Peripherals

1200 Baud Internal.

. . . .79.99

2400 Baud Stand Alone. . .

. . .189.00

Supra

2400AT 2400 Baud Atari . .

. . .169.00

U.S. Robotics

Direct 1200 Baud External.

. . .109.00

Direct 2400 Baud External.

. . .199.00

DISKETTES

Maxwell

MD1-M SS/DD 5V4”.

.8.49

MD2-DM DS/DD 5V4 n .

.9.49

MF1-DDM SS/DD 3V 2 ”. . . .

_12.49

MF2-DDM DS/DD 3W . . .

. . . .18.49

MC-6000 DC-600 Tape....

. . . .23.99

Sony

MD1D SS/DD 5 V 2 ”.

.6.99

MD2D DS/DD 5V 2 ”.

.7.99

MFD-1DD SS/DD 3V 2 ”

... .11.99

MFD-2DD DS/DD 3V 2 ” . . . .

. . . .16.99

PRINTERS

Atari

XDM-121 Letter Quality XL-XE 209.00
XM-M801 XL-XE Dot Matrix . . . 199.00
XM-M804 ST Dot Matrix.199.00

Brother

M-1509 180cps 132col.389.00

HR-20 22cps Daisywheel.379.00

Citizen

120D 120cps Dot Matrix.159.00

Premier-35 35cps Daisywheel .479.00

Epson

LX-800 150cps, 80 col.179.00

FX-850 240cps, 80 col.Call

FX-1050 264cps, 132 col .Call

LQ-500 180 cps, 24-wire.Call

LQ-850 330 cps, 80 col.Call

LQ-1050 330 cps, 24-wire.Call

FX-850, FX-1050.New

Hewlett-Packard

2225A Thinkjet.369.00

NEC

P2200 Pinwriter 24-wire.379.00

P660 Pinwriter 24-wire.459.00

P760 Pinwriter 132 col.679.00

Okidata

Okimate 20 color printer .129.00

ML-182 180 cps, 80 col.249.00

ML-320 300 cps, 80 col.379.00

ML-390 24 wire, 270 cps.519.00

Brother M-1109
100 cps,

Dot Matrix

Panasonic

KX-P1080i 144 cps, 80 col.. .
KX-P1091i 194 cps, 80 col. . .
KX-P1092i 240 cps, 80 col.-. .
KX-P1595 200 cps, 132 col..
Star Micronics
NX-1000 140 cps, 80 col
NX-1000C C64/128 Interface .

NX-15 120 cps, 132 col.

Toshiba

P321-SL 216 cps, 24-wire . . .
P351-SX 300 cps, 24-wire . . .

SI 59

.169.00
.199.00
. 339.00
.479.00

.179.00

.329.00

.499.00

.999.00

In the U.S.A. and in Canada

Call toll-free: 1-800-233-8950

Outside the U.S.A. call 717-327-9575, Fax 717-327-1217
Educational, Governmental and Corporate Organizations call toll-free 1-800-221-4283
CMO, 101 Reighard Ave., Dept. A1, Williamsport, PA 17701

MMC

MICROCOMPUTER
MARKETING COUNCIL

of t»>e Di-ect Martetmtj Association Inc.

OVER'350,000 SATISFIED CUSTOMERS « ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED » CREDIT CARDS ARE NOT CHARGED UNTIL WE SHIP

POLICY: Add 3% (minimum $7.00) shipping and handling. Larger shipments may require additional charges. Personal and company checks require 3 weeks
to clear. For faster delivery, use your credit card or send cashier’s check or bank money order. Credit cards are not charged until we ship. Pennsylvania residents
add 6% sales tax. All prices are U.S.A. prices and are subject to change, and all items are subject to availability. Defective software will be replaced with the
same item only. Hardware will be replaced or repaired at our discretion within the terms and limits of the manufacturer’s warranty. We cannot guarantee com¬
patibility. All sales are final and returned shipments are subject to a restocking fee. We are not responsible for typographic or photographic errors.

A110

Circle 64 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 57

BOOK REVIEWS

Quaid Analyzer
Instruction Display

dx ax 0000 0000
ds:si bx 86c4:003e 085d
es:di cx 86c4:0000 0a9a
ss:sp bp 86c4:0946 00a2
data 09c2:0008

code 09c2:0419

cs:ip 09c2:0419

....oditsz.a.p.c
flags 0000001001000110

d28c

0419

dx,ss

cc8b

041b

move

cx,sp

04 Id

cli

c88c

041e

move

ax,cs

d08e

0420

move

ss,ax

0d60bc

0422

move

sp,0d60

0200c481

0425

add

sp,0200

0429

sti

042a

push

042b

push

042c

push

042d

push

30b4

042e

move

ah ,30

21cd

0430

int

DOScall

Part of a Quaid Analyzer display

Quaid Analyzer is a powerful diagnostic tool
that shows what is going on inside your com¬
puter. The > at the top is the cursor. You can
move it with the arrow keys. When you move the
cursor off the screen, the instructions scroll like
text in an editor. You can move the cursor into a
register and change its value, or see the instruc¬
tions or data it points to. Of course, you can
scroll through the data display as well, and type
new values into memory. With Quaid Analyzer
you never have to type a command.

This example shows the first instructions exe¬
cuted when VDISK.SYS installs itself. You can
see that it changes stack pointers, then gets the
DOS version number. We got to this point by
loading Quaid Analyzer before DOS, then
watching the DOS call and disk interrupts until
the driver was loaded, then putting a breakpoint
on its first instruction. Drivers are installed before
DOS gives you the first prompt. What other soft¬
ware tool can show you a device driver install?

Quaid Analyzer comes with a manual, and software on a 3
inch and a 5 inch diskette. If you are not satisfied with
Quaid Analyzer, you can return it within 30 days for a re¬
fund. Quaid Analyzer is not sold by dealers in the United
States or Canada. It is not copy-protected.

To order Quaid Analyzer, call us with your credit
card, or send us a check for $200 US funds. We
ship within a day at our expense.

Quaid Software Limited
Third Floor Dept B633
45 Charles Street East
Toronto Ontario Canada M4Y 1S2

(416) 961-8243

Warning! For advanced programmers only.

step in the incremental con¬
struction of a solid model.
Each operator changes the
number of vertices (F), edges
(. E ), and faces (F) in a way that
maintains equality in Euler’s
formula: V - E + F = 2. This
equality guarantees the topo¬
logical validity of the model.

Solid modeling programs
like the one described in this
book are necessarily large and
complex. Software engineers,
even those not particularly in¬
terested in solid modeling,
might enjoy reading this book
just to learn more about how to
write a large program. The au¬
thor explains many of his deci¬
sions, including his selection
of data structures and his de¬
sign of a user interface.

Many listings of C code il¬
lustrate the book. While the
syntax of C enables clever pro¬
grammers to use tricks and
shortcuts, Martti Mantyla
avoids those in favor of clear
code. An experienced pro¬
grammer who knows Pascal
would have no trouble follow¬
ing the examples.

The exercises in the book
offer readers a means of going
beyond the text. Many are sub¬
stantial projects. They consti¬
tute a guide for those who are
interested in constructing
their own solid modeling pro¬
gram, and a jumping-off point
for those who are intent on de¬
veloping their own program of
research.

The bibliography lists 137
references, mainly to major
journals. That in itself is a
major attraction to the book
for anyone seriously interested
in the subject.

I enjoyed Martti Mantyla’s
writing style and presentation.
An Introduction to Solid Mod¬
eling is especially attractive
because you can read it quick¬
ly or at your leisure, all at once
or in bits and pieces. The au¬
thor has constructed a very ef¬
fective introduction to solid
modeling, which at the same
time challenges those who are
experienced in the field.

—Leon Tabak

Programs and Data Struc¬
tures in C by Leendert Am-

meraal, John Wiley & Sons,
New York: 1987, 206 pages,
$24.95 (softcover). Leendert
Ammeraal’s book is a broad
but not exhaustive introduc¬
tion to data structures and al¬
gorithms using C.

After briefly defending C
as an appropriate language for
teaching and defending func¬
tioning programs as the best
vehicle for teaching, Ammer-
aal plunges into a grab bag of
tricks and techniques. The
initial chapter on program¬
ming style discusses search
sentinels, global variables,
and recursion. Ammeraal’s
sometimes gruff text goes on
to cover basics such as sorting,
searching, and list manipula¬
tion; more advanced topics,
such as doubly linked lists, B-
trees, and interpreters/com¬
pilers; and esoteric topics like
dynamic programming, tries,
and graph representations.
Example programs are work¬
able for students but are not
particularly general or exten¬
sible for professionals.

—Darrow Kirkpatrick

C as a Second Language by

Tomasz Muldner and Peter W.
Steele, Addison-Wesley, Read¬
ing, MA: 1988, 588 pages,
$27.95 (softcover). This is a
comprehensive introduction
to standard C, with some
ANSI extensions included.
Written primarily for those
who were raised on Pascal, it
provides clear discussions of
the basics—datatypes, control
structures, file I/O, func¬
tions, and strings—with very
helpful and concise summar¬
ies of the most important
points.

The book moves well be¬
yond the basics with probing
discussions of C features like
pointers, bit fields, structured
file I/O, enumerated types,
and preprocessor instruc¬
tions. Muldner and Steele in¬
clude code to manage abstract
data types such as graphs,
lists, sets, and stacks. They
also include a hearty calcula¬
tor program featuring vari¬
ables; a memory-management
system with compaction; and a
continued

58 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

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LASER PRINTERS

NEC

LC 890

* 2 , 950 °°'

35 Resident type fonts
4 standard interfaces
3MB of internal memory
Includes Apple Talk Connector

LC 890 Toner Cartridge (6Pk.) ..77.. 62.10*

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ALDUS PageMaker 3.0 . 479.75*

ASHTON-TATE Dbase 111+ . 345.32*

ASHTON-TATE Multimate Advan.II .. 235.35*

BORLAND INT Paradox 2.0 . 392.89*

BORLAND INT Quattro . 129.00*

BORLAND INT Sidekick Plus . 112.11*

BORLAND INT Sprint . 108.50*

BORLAND INT Turbo Cor Basic. 56.05*

CENTRAL POINT PC Tools Deluxe .... 37.50*
DAC SFT DAC Easy Accounting 3.0 .... 53.00*
LOTUS DEVELOPMENT Lotus 1-2-3 279.00*
MERIDIAN TECH Carbon Copy Plus 100.49*

MICROSOFT "C" Compiler . 271.69*

MICROSOFT Excel . 285.32*

MICROSOFT Basic 4.0 or Windows .... 60.55*

MICROSOFT Word 4.0 . 199.00*

PEACHTREE SFT Acctinq Sys II . 146.45*

PETER NORTON Utilities-Advanced .. 68.25*
QUARTERDECK OFFICE Desqview .. 69.69*

SYMANTEC Q&A 3.0 . 186.85*

WORDPERFECT WordPerfect 5.0 .... 205.00*
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HOUSTON INSTRUMENTS All Models CALL

HEWLETT PACKARD Scanjet . 984.75*

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1080i 8.5", 144cps . 170.69*

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CITIZEN

180D 10", 180cps . 166.65*

MSP-50 10", 300cps.388.85*

MSP-45 15", 240cps.437.00*

Tribute 224 15", 200cps, 24 Pin.578.90*

Premier 35 15", 25cps .489.00*

EPSON

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LQ500 80 Col., 180cps. CALL

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FX1050 132 Col., 264cps . CALL

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P2200 Dot Matrix 10", 170cps . 317.14*

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HERCULES Graphics Card Plus . 170.69*

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A.T.I. EGA Wonder 800 x 560 . 162.00*

ORCHID Designer VGA (IBM PC/XT) 287.31 *

PARADISE Auto Switch 480 . 162.00*

PARADISE VGA Plus Card . 253.00*

VIDEO 7 Vega Deluxe 640 x 480 . 185.14*

VIDEO 7 VGA. 249.96*

COMPUTER SYSTEMS

AST Premium 286 Model 80. 1,542.77*

AST Premium 286 Model 140. 2,513.91*

COMPAQ Deskpro 286/40MB . 2,295.25*

COMPAQ Deskpro 386/60MB . 5,089.00*

COMPAQ Portable III MDL 40 . 3,850.00*

IBM PS/2 Model 30 CMS 20MB . 1.473.59*

IBM PS/2 Model 50. 2,499.75*

TOSHIBA T-1000 Laptop W/512K.719.00*

TOSHIBA T-3100/20 Laptop W/640K 2,838.00*

TOSHIBA T-5100 w/2MB RAM, 40MB 4,450.00*
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ScanJet Desktop
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ScanJet Interface Card . $348.45*

FLOPPIES, DRIVES, TAPES

CMS 360K Ext. PS/2 Floppy. 231.29*

IOMEGA Bernoulli II 20MB Int . 738.00*

IRWIN 64MB Int Tape for IBM PS/2 .... 499.00*

IRWIN 145 40MB Internal Tape . 419.65*

MINISCRIBE 3650 40MB Kit . 360.57*

MITSUBISHI 360K 1/2 Ht Dr . 79.79*

MITSUBISHI 1MB3.5"FD. 79.79*

MITSUBISHI 1.2MB Floppy 1/2 Ht . 85.62*

PLUS DEVEL Hardcard 20. 489.87*

PLUS DEVELHardcard 40 . 601.82*

SEAGATE ST-225 20MB Kit . 249.00*

MINISCRIBE 3675 60MB HD Kit . 389.00*

MINISCRIBE 6128 110MB RLL Full Ht 659.00*
SEAGATE ST-251 42MB/40MS HD .... 349.00*

SEAGATE ST-4096 80MB Full Ht . 529.00*

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AST Advantage Premium . 295.00*

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LOGITECH Logimouse +.69.69*

LOGITECH Hi-Res Mouse.85.85*

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Circle 196 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 59

All the software, alignment diskettes, parallel/serial wrap-around
plugs, ROM POSTs and extensive, professional documentation to
provide the most comprehensive testing available for IBM PCs,
XTs,ATs and all compatibles under DOS or Stand Alone. No other
diagnostics offers such in-depth testing on as many different types of
equipment by isolating problems to the board and chip level.

NEW: SuperSoft’s ROM POST performs the most advanced
Power-on-Self-Test available for system boards that are compatible
with the IBM ROM BIOS. It works even in circumstances when the
Service Diagnostics diskette cannot be loaded.

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—Darrow Kirkpatrick

Perceptrons by Marvin L.
Minsky and Seymour A.
Papert, MIT Press, Cam¬
bridge, MA: 1988, 292 pages,
$12.50. Perceptrons has been
the classic textbook on con-
nectionist learning machines
since its publication in 1969,
and the recent surge of interest
in artificial neural systems
makes the printing of an ex¬
panded edition welcome.

Initially, owners of the pre¬
vious edition of this work may
be disappointed by the new
book. It turns out to be a re¬
print of the old edition sand¬
wiched between about 45
pages of a newly written pro¬
logue and epilogue.

The short prologue, entitled
“A View from 1988,” is an
overview of the history of arti¬
ficial neural systems and the
authors’ commentary on why
the state of the art has pro¬
gressed little since the book
was first published.

The epilogue, which ac¬
counts for the lion’s share of
the new text, is an interesting
essay entitled “The New Con-
nectionism,” which includes
discussion of the significant
Rummelhart and McClelland
work on parallel distributed
processing. Minsky and Pa¬
pert do a good job of tying the
theory and application of per¬
ceptrons to other paradigms
coming into vogue in the sci¬
ence of neural networks.

While billing the new Per¬
ceptrons as an “expanded edi¬
tion” may be overdoing
things, the authors’ additions
are important enough to jus¬
tify putting the book on the
shelf next to the older edition.
With or without the additions,
of course, Perceptrons will al¬
ways remain a classic in its
field.— Eric Bobinsky

BASIC Mathematical Pro¬
grams for Engineers and
Scientists by H. Guggen-
heimer, Petrocelli Books,
Princeton, NJ: 1987, 233
pages, $19.95. This new addi¬
tion to the large body of litera¬

ture on numerical computing
offers welcome relief from
both the code-starved mathe¬
matical textbooks on numeri¬
cal analysis and the simple-
minded cookbooks that
provide code but little or no
useful explanations.

The author, a university
mathematics professor, has
put together 40 BASIC pro¬
grams covering such diverse
topics as vector geometry,
roots of equations, integration
and differentiation, ordinary
differential equations, linear
algebra, Fourier analysis, and
gamma and Bessel functions.
As important as the code it¬
self, each program is accom¬
panied by a readable and thor¬
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behind the algorithm.

The book’s conversational
style and expert presentation
make it enjoyable to read, and,
although the author states that
the text is for “anyone who is
not a computer scientist or
mathematician,” many prac¬
ticing professionals will none¬
theless find it useful.

The only negative aspect of
the book is its use of Microsoft
GWBASIC. Much more ele¬
gant and understandable pro¬
grams would have followed
from the use of any of the new,
structured BASIC dialects.
Fortunately, Pascal-like
pseudocode versions of each
routine are presented, and
they make the book valuable
even to those who write code
in something other than
BASIC.

At $19.95, this excellent lit¬
tle paperback is a bargain.

—Eric Bobinsky ■

CONTRIBUTORS

Critic and author Hugh Ken¬
ner lives in Baltimore, MD.
Leon Tabak is a visiting
lecturer in computer science
at Worcester (MA) Polytech¬
nic Institute. Darrow Kirk¬
patrick is a freelance writer
and computer consultant liv¬
ing in New Paltz, New York.
Eric Bobinsky is a mathema¬
tician at NASA’s Lewis Re¬
search Center in Cleveland,
Ohio.

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Circle 250 on Reader Service Card

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OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 61

PRICES YOU CAN FIND ONLY IN

FORTRAN COMPILERS

Lahey F77 FORTRAN

429

Lahey Personal FORTRAN 77

MS FORTRAN

299

RM/FORTRAN

479

GRAPHICS

Advantage Graphics (C)
Essential Graphics

229

w/Source

509

Graphic

GSS Graphic Dev. Toolkit

HALO '88

322

409

229

HALO '88 (5 Microsoft Lang.)

399

MetaWINDOW

162

MetaWINDOW Plus

232

386 SOFTWARE

386-to-the-Max 66

DESQview 115

FoxBASE + /386 CALL

High C-386 799

Microport

System V/386 (complete) 769

Runtime System 255

MS Windows/386 130

NDP C or Fortran-386 529

PC-MOS 386 CALL

PharLap 386IASM/Link 409

SCO Xenix

System V 386 (complete) 1279

Operating System 589

VM/386 182

ASSEMBLERS/UNKERS

Advantage Disassembler
MS Macro Assembler
OPTASM
Plink86plus

Visible Computer 80286

BASIC

Finally!

Flash-Up

MS Basic Comp. 6.0
MS QuickBASIC
QuickPak Professional
QuickWindows w/Source
Screen Sculptor
Turbo Basic
Turbo Basic Toolboxes

C COMPILERS/INTERPRETERS

C-Terp 220

Lattice C 289

Microsoft C 299

Quick C 69

Run/C Professional 159

Turbo C 69

C UBRARIES/UTILITIES

C Async Manager 137

C Tools Plus/5.0 101

C Utility Library 125

CxPERT CALL

Essential Comm Library 125

Greenleaf Bus. Math Lib. 159

Greenleaf Comm Library 169

Greenleaf Functions 155

Greenleaf Super Functions 179

Greenleaf Turbo Functions 109

PforCe 215

PC-Lint 101

Pre-C 159

Resident C w/Source 169

TimeSlicer 279

w/Source 899

Turbo C Tools 101

COBOL

Microsoft COBOL
Opt-Tech Sort
Realia COBOL
RM/COBOL-85
SCREENIO

NEW

Clipper 439

dBFast 75

FoxBASE+ 269

Hi-Screen XL 129

Integrated Development Lib. 135
Quicksilver 369

R&R 129

Say What! 45

Silvercomm Library 139

DEBUGGERS

Periscope I 563

Periscope II 141

Periscope ll-X 106

Periscope III 10 MHZ 1143

Pfix 86 Plus 215

T-Debug Plus V. 4.0 39

w/Source 80

DISK/DOS/KEYBOARD

UTILITIES

Advanced Norton Utilities 99

Command Plus V. 2.0 70

Disk Optimizer 56

FastbacK Plus 142

Mace Utilities 90

Norton Commander 56

Norton Utilities 61

PC Tools Deluxe 70

Vfeature Deluxe 111

X-Tree Pro 111

EDITORS

Brief CALL

w/dbrief CALL

EDIX 169

Epsilon 151

KEDIT 120

MKS Vi 66

Multi-Edit 90

Norton Editor 70

PC/EDT + 269

PI Editor 165

SPF/PC 185

Vedit Plus 131

FILE MANAGEMENT

Btrieve 185

Xtrieve 189

Report Option 109

Btrieve/N 455

CBTREE 141

c-tree 318

r-tree 241

d-tree CALL

dBC III 169

dBC III Plus 599

dB.Vista or dB.Query CALL

Informix ESQL/C,4GL,SQL CALL

XQL 599

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PROGRAMMING

Actor 439

Advantage C++ 479

C-Talk 129

PforCe + + 215

Smalltalk/V 85

Communication Applic. Pack 45

EGA/VGA Color Ext. Pack 45

Goodies #1, 2 or 3 Applic. Packs 45
Smalltalk/V286 169

OPERATING SYSTEMS

Microport:

286 DOS Merge 219

System V/AT 549

Runtime Package 209

Software Dev. Package 255

Text Preparation Package 169

Unlimited License Kit 209

SCO:

Xenix System V (complete) 979

Development System 479

Operating System 479

Text Processing Package 149

Xenix for PS/2 50, 60, 80 CALL
Wendin DOS 2.15 NEW 109

TROPICAL TREATS

dBx Translator

New dBx version 4.0 com¬
piles dBASE III Plus programs
into portable C source code
with full runtime terminal
and file support. Execute C
fast on PC, or run on UNIX
or VAX.

$469

PI Editor

Blazinely fast editor with
multi files, full on-line con¬
textual help, compile integra¬
tion, undo, macro language
with integrated source de¬
bugger, E/EMS and VGA/EGA
support.

$165

Periscope I

Now includes a 512K write
protected 16 bit RAM board,
along with breakout switch.
Store symbol tables, defini¬
tion files, etc. in addition to
the Periscope debugger soft¬
ware, outside DOS memory.
$563

62 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

PARADISE 1-800-445-7899 =S

PASCAL COMPILERS

Microsoft Pascal 199

Professional Pascal 549

Turbo Pascal 69

Turbo Pascal Dev. Toolkit 289

TURBO PASCAL ADD-ONS

Flash-Up 80

Flash-Up Toolbox 46

Mach 2 66

Screen Sculptor 96

T-Debug Plus V. 4.0 39

w/Source 80

Turbo Analyst 4.0 69

Turbo Async Plus 101

Turbo Halo 80

Turbo Magic 179

Turbo Power Tools Plus 101

Turbo Power Utilities 79

Turbo Professional 4.0 80

Turbo WINDOW/Pascal 80

SCREENS/WINDOWS

C-Scape 282

Greenleaf DataWindows 219

Makeform NEW 99

Panel Plus 395

Panel/QC or /TC 99

POWER SCREEN NEW 101

Vitamin C 149

VC Screen 119

Windows for C 149

Windows for Data 259

w/Source 519

ADDITIONAL PRODUCTS

Carbon Copy Plus 142

Dan Bricklirrs Demo Prog. II 179

FLOWCHARTING II 205

Logitech MOD II Dev Sys 209

MathCAD 282

MKS Toolkit 145

PC Scheme 86

Pfinish 215

PolyMake 131

PVCS Corporate 359

Source Print 80

Tree Diagrammer 70

BORLAND

Eureka 119

Paradox 1.1 369

Paradox 2.0 529

Quattro 169

Sidekick Plus 125

Turbo Basic Compiler 69

Database Toolbox 69

Editor Toolbox 69

Telecom Toolbox 69

Turbo C Compiler 69

Turbo Pascal 69

Turbo Pascal Dev. Toolkit 289

Turbo Tutor 45

Numerical Methods TB 69

Database Toolbox 69

Editor Toolbox 69

Cameworks Toolbox 69

Graphix Toolbox 69

Turbo Prolog Compiler 105

Turbo Prolog Toolbox 69

MICROSOFT

MS Basic Compiler 6.0 199

MS Basic Compiler (XENIX) 449

MS Basic Interpreter (XENIX) 229
MS C Compiler 299

MS COBOL Compiler 599

for XENIX 649

MS Excel 329

MS FORTRAN 299

for XENIX 449

MS Learning DOS 39

MS Macro Assembler 99

MS Mouse Serial or Bus 99

w/EasyCad 119

w/MS Windows 139

MS OS/2 Programmer's Toolkit 239
MS Pascal Comp. 199

for XENIX 449

MS QuickBASIC 69

MS QuickC 69

MS Sort 130

MS Windows 69

MS Windows Development Kit 319
MS Windows/386 130

MS Word 285

MS Works 129

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GREENLEAF

SUPERFUNCTIONS

LIBRARY

The new Greenleaf SuperFunctions
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MAILORDERS

POs by mail or fax are welcome.
Please include phone number.

RETURN POLICY

Our “No Hassle" policy means
if you're not satisfied with a
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simply return it within 30 days
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PROS

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SERVICE

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55 South Broadway, Tarrytown, NY 10591

Circle 209 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 • BYTE 63

Introducing OmniLab 9240.

Totally Integrated Scope-Analyzer-Stimulus.

■ Combine a 100 MHz digital oscilloscope
with a time-aligned, 200 MS/s 48-channel
logic analyzer. Next add synchronized analog
and digital stimulus generators. Then a
remarkable new triggering system. What you
have is the 9240—a whole new class of
instrumentation. Expressly designed to speed
challenging analog and digital analysis. And
get you from concept to product faster.

■ The 9240 is based on an innovative
new instrument architecture that merges
high-speed universal hardware and seamlessly-
integrated software to create high-perfor¬
mance capabilities not available in separate
instruments. Analog and digital traces are
always time-correlated in a unique, single
screen display. SELECT™ triggering bridges
scope and analyzer techniques. And OmniLab’s
stimulus generators can playback captured
or edited signals.

■ At the heart of the 9240 is SELECT
triggering, the most straightforward and
complete solution ever to triggering dilemmas.
It’s one system, operating with synchronized
analog and digital views of your data. By
combining conventional oscilloscope and
analyzer triggering with powerful RAM truth
tables — plus min/max time qualification as
needed—SELECT triggering helps you analyze
hardware, debug software, and integrate
systems more easily

■ OmniLab™ is a generation ahead of con¬
ventional digital scopes that often hide rarely
occurring faults because they only show you
a few cycles out of millions. With its con¬
tinuous monitoring, you can use SELECT
triggering to quickly catch every occurrence

; V/4iv

A0a/d

Ala/d

A2a/d

A3a/d

A4a/d

A5a/d

A6a/d

A7a/d

_liii’mj'muTrL.,

LJBinJUOMWUITiJlM^

32 10000010
30 10000000
EE 11101110
?C 01111100

T&IGGEC-+

7A 01111010

74 01110100

SYSTEM FILES CONSTRUCT INPUTS

INSTR0

ifOAJi LOOKI NG TRIG

O Anlyzrl Scope
setup w setup

OmniLab display demonstrates capture of an
imbedded analog glitch (in top trace) with time-aligned
presentation of the waveform’s digitized bit values
(center) and numeric states.

of rare events like metastable states, bus
contentions, missing pulses, and buried noise
glitches.

■ The 9240 is like having a complete

benchtop of instruments integrated with your
PC/AT or compatible. Which you can easily
customize for digital development, analog
development, or a combination of both.

■ With OmniLab, your productivity will
soar. Because you achieve results with fewer
instruments. And in fewer steps than ever
before. By no means least, the 9240 delivers
the best price/performance you’ll find any¬
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And most importantly, without compromising
a single high-performance spec. Not a one.

N0-C0MPR0MISE 9240 SPECIFICATIONS

DIGITAL OSCILLOSCOPE

LOGIC ANALYZER

Digitizers:

Bandwidth:

Single-Shot Digitizing:
Repetitive Sampling:
Scale Factor:

* Record Length:

Two, 8 bit

100 MHz

34 S/s to 204 MS/s

680 MS/s

5 mV/div to 1 OV/div
in 1-2-5 sequence

4K(16K,64K optional)

Inputs:

Asynchronous Clocking:

Repetitive Sampling:
Synchronous Clocking:
Acquisition Memory:
Disassembly Options:

48, timing and state

34 MS/s on 48 inputs;

204 MS/s on 8 inputs

680 MS/s on 48 inputs

0 to 34 MS/s

4K samples (16K.64K optional)
Over 150 microprocessors

ANALOG STIMULUS

DIGITAL STIMULUS

Output:

Cycle Length:

Clocking:

Functions:

8mV to 8 V peak-to-peak, 8 bit

4 to 4K samples (16K optional)

34 S/s to 34 MS/s

Record, edit and playback

Outputs:

Cycle Length:

Timing:

Functions:

24,74F tri-state drivers

4 to 4K samples (16K optional)
34S/s to 34MS/s

Record, edit and playback

■ For more information, call toll free

800/245-8500. In CA: 415/361-8883.
Or write for complete literature.

INSTRUMENTS

702 Marshall Street, Redwood City, CA 94063
TELEX: 530942 FAX. 415/361-8970

Computer Integrated Instrumentation

*OmniLab, and SELECT are trademarks of Orion
Instruments, Inc.

64 BYTE- OCTOBER 1988

Circle 188 on Reader Service Card

Products in
Perspective

67 What’s New

89 Short Takes

Toshiba 3-in-One P321SLC
Illustrator 88
AppleCD SC

Super PC-Kwik and PolyBoost II
Tickler/2

Zortech Comm Toolkit
Expert Advice:

101 Computing at Chaos Manor

by Jerry Pournelle

119 Applications Plus

by Ezra Shapiro

129 Down to Business

by Wayne Rash Jr.

133 Macinations

by Don Crabb

139 OS/2 Notebook

by Mark Minasi

144C COM1:

by Brock N. Meeks

First Impressions
151 Borland Beefs Up
Its Languages

157 Presentation Manager
and LAN Manager

Reviews

164 80386s for the Masses
179 Dell’s System 310
185 The Amstrad PPC640
and the Epson Equity LT
194 Five low-end scanners
for the Mac
201 C_Talk
209 T urbo Prolog 2.0
215 D the Data Language
223 Sprint

OCTOBER 1988 - BYTE 65

c ^

IT'S TIME TO DO SOME
SERIOUS 386 BUGBUSTING!

PROBE's menu
bar and pull¬
down menus set a
new standard for
debugger
interfaces.

PROBE has
source-level
debugging to let
you “C” your
program.

POP registers up
and down with a
single key.

This is an
out-of-range
memory-overwrite
bug. Since it is
interrupt related ,
it only appears in
real time.

W elcome to your nightmare. Your company has bet
the farm on your product. Your demonstration
wowed the operating committee, and beta ship¬
ments were out on time. Then wham!

All your beta customers seemed to call on the same day.
“Your software is doing some really bizarre things’,’they say.
Your credibility is at stake. Your profits are at stake. Your
sanity is at stake.

THIS BUG’S FOR YOU

You rack your brain, trying to figure something out. Is it a
random memory overwrite? Or worse, an overwrite to a stack-
based local variable? Is it sequence dependent? Or worse,
randomly caused by interrupts? Overwritten code? Undocu¬
mented “features” in the software you’re linking to? And to
top it off, your program is too big. The software debugger,
your program and it’s symbol table can’t fit into memory at
the same time. Opening a bicycle shop suddenly isn’t such a
bad idea.

THIS DEBUGGER’S FOR YOU

Announcing the 386 PROBE™ Bugbuster,*from Atron. Nine
of the top-ten software developers sleep better at night
because of Atron hardware-assisted debuggers. Because they
can set real-time breakpoints which instantly detect memory
reads and writes.

Now, with the 386 PROBE, you have the capability to set a
qualified breakpoint, so the breakpoint triggers only if the
events are coming from the wrong procedures. So you don’t
have to be halted by breakpoints from legitimate areas. You
can even detect obscure, sequence-dependent problems by
stopping a breakpoint only after a specific chain of events has
occurred in a specific order.

Then, so you can look at the cause of the problem, the 386
PROBE automatically stores the last 2K cycles of program
execution. Although other debuggers may try to do the same
thing, Atron is the only company in the world to dequeue the
pipelined trace data so you can easily understand it.

Finally, 386 PROBE’S megabyte of hidden, write-protected
memory stores your symbol table and debugger. So your bug
can’t roach the debugger. And so you have room enough to
debug a really big program.

COULD A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP
PUT YOU IN THE TOP TEN?

Look at it this way. Nine of the top-ten software products in
any given category were created by Atron customers. Maybe
their edge is - a good night’s sleep.

Call and get your free, 56-page bugbusting bible today.
And if you’re in the middle^ f* of a nightmare right now,

give us a purchase order
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BUGBUSTERS

A division of Northwest Instrument Systems, Inc.
Saratoga Office Center • 12950 Saratoga Avenue
Saratoga, CA 95070 • Call 408/253-5933 today.

Circle 25 on Reader Service Card

What’s New

SYSTEMS

Switchable CPUs
and a Dual Bus, Too

W ells American’s

CompuStar is actually a
“convertible” computer that
can switch between an IBM PC
AT bus and a Micro Channel
bus. In addition, you can set it
up to use any of four central
processing modules: 8086,
80286, 80386, or 80386SX
(which is scheduled to ship in
mid-October). The snap-in
processor modules, which plug
into the motherboard, are in¬
terchangeable, the company
claims.

All CompuStar models,
regardless of the CPU or bus
configuration, are equipped
with a parallel port, a mouse
port, a keyboard and key¬
board port, two serial ports,
an EGA port, a VGA port, a
disk controller, and a 220-watt
power supply. The BIOS is
by Wells American.

For file-server applica¬
tions (which increase the possi¬
bility of overheated compo¬
nents), each version has two
fans—one for pressurizing
the hard, floppy, and optical
disk drives, and one for
creating a vacuum within the
printed circuit board areas.

Wells will sell the Compu¬
Star much like a pick-the-com-
ponent system. Besides an
operating system (MS-DOS,
OS/2, or Unix), you can
choose from a selection of
video interfaces, drives (in¬
cluding, later, a Maxtor eras¬
able optical drive), key¬
boards, and so on.

Price: Basic 8086 machine,
$995; 80286 machine, about
$20,000; full-featured 80386
machine, up to $25,000.
Contact: Wells American
Corp., 3243 Sunset Blvd.,

West Columbia, SC 29169,
(803) 796-7800.

Inquiry 781.

Apollo Launches
First 68030-based
System

I n its base configuration,
Apollo Computer’s Series
3500 is a Motorola 68030-
based diskless microcomputer
that will run at 4 million in¬
structions per second (MIPS).

The 68030 processor
makes the 3500 compatible
with previous 68000-series
machines, resulting in faster
and more cost-effective

workstations. Clock speed on
the 3500 is 25 MHz with no
wait states. The standard 4
megabytes of RAM can be
expanded to 32. There are 7
16-bit AT slots and three
serial ports, and the BIOS is by
Phoenix Technologies.

The operating system is
Apollo’s Domain/OS version
of Unix. But “off-the-shelf’
MS-DOS applications are sup¬
ported either by an optional
80286 coprocessor or with a
software emulator. The co¬
processor, an add-in card, can
be purchased and installed on

a file server and used by all.
Price: $7990; 80286 copro¬
cessor add-in, $1990; MS-
DOS software emulator,
$500; 19-inch monochrome
monitor, $1000; 15-inch
color monitor, $2000; 155-
megabyte ESDI hard disk
drive and controller, $4500;
348-megabyte drive, $7500.
Contact: Apollo Computer,
Inc., 330 Billerica Rd.,
Chelmsford, MA 01824,
(617) 256-6600.

Inquiry 782.

The Desktop and
Portable 80386SXes

I ntel’s new low-cost
80386SX chips have made
an appearance in NEC’s
newest machines—the Power-
Mate SX and the PowerMate
Portable SX. Both machines
feature 16-MHz clock speeds
and 2 megabytes of RAM, ex¬
pandable to 16 megabytes.

Additional features of the
standard SX machine include a
1.2- or 1.44-megabyte floppy
disk drive and a 42-megabyte
hard disk drive. The BIOS is
by Phoenix Technologies. One
RS-232C serial port, one
parallel port, and one 8-bit and
five 16-bit expansion slots
are standard. There’s room for
two 5 % -inch and one 3 Vi-
inch (optional) disk drives.
ESDI hard disk controllers
are also available.

The Portable SX comes
standard with a 360K-byte or
1.2-megabyte floppy disk
drive and a 42-megabyte hard
disk drive.

Price: $4495 for the Power-
Mate SX; $6595 for the Power-
Mate Portable SX.

Contact: NEC Information
Systems, Inc., 1414 Massachu¬
setts Ave., Boxborough, MA
01719, (508) 264-8000.
Inquiry 783.

continued

SEND US YOUR NEW PRODUCT RELEASE

We’d like to consider your product for publication. Send us full
information, including its price, ship date, and an address and
telephone number where readers can get further information. Send
to New Products Editor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peter¬
borough, NH 03458. Information contained in these items is based
on manufacturers ’ written statements and/or telephone interviews
with BYTE reporters. BYTE has not formally reviewed each product
mentioned. These items, along with additional new product
announcements, are posted regularly on BIX in the microbytes, sw
and microbytes, hw conferences.

OCTOBER 1988 • BYTE 67

WHAT’S NEW

PERIPHERALS

Macro Font
Cartridges Do It All

I f you need multiple fonts
for your HP LaserJet II or
Cannon printers and don’t
want to buy and swap dozens
of cartridges, Pacific Data
has the solution in five multi¬
font cartridges.

The new “25 Cartridges in
One” font cartridge includes
all 25 fonts that are available
on HP LaserJet cartridges, in¬
cluding the SI, S2, and Z1A,
Pacific Data reports.

Four other cartridges offer
similar multiple-cartridges-in-
one performance for HP and
Canon laser printers. The Six-
Pack cartridge combines all
seven of HP’s compatible
monospaced fonts and sym¬
bol sets and is designed for ap¬
plications where column
alignment is important.

Up to 240 characters per
line in both portrait and land¬
scape mode (the Lotus maxi¬
mum) can be printed with the
Spreadsheet cartridge. It in¬
cludes five different point
sizes, including a size for ti¬
tles and headings. The Z car¬
tridge, containing typo¬
graphic masters to match the
look of PostScript, is de¬
signed for such word process¬
ing programs as Microsoft
Word for typeset-quality docu¬
ments with proportional
spacing.

Also for word processing
and desktop publishing, the F
cartridge includes a fixed-
pitch line-printer font for
monospaced word processing
applications. And it’s compat¬
ible with PageMaker and
Ventura Publisher.

Price: 25 Cartridges in One,
$399; Six-Pack, $99; Spread¬
sheet, $199; Z cartridge,

$99; F cartridge, $99.
Contact: Pacific Data
Products, 6404 Nancy Ridge
Dr., San Diego, CA 92121,
(619) 552-0880.

Inquiry 793.

Support a Third
Floppy with Your AT
Controller

M anzana Microsystems
has equipment to add a
third floppy disk drive (Sc¬
inch) to your AT without hav¬
ing to add another controller.
Your existing controller can
now power both 5 % -inch
disk drives and a 3 V^-inch in¬

ternal disk drive.

Standard equipment in¬
cludes a multiplexer adapter
card to split the controller
signal, 3Five Software, and a
3 Vi -inch floppy disk drive in
a 5 *4-inch frame, plus internal
cabling. The software allows
XTs, ATs, and compatibles to
support the 3 Vi -inch disk
drive and includes a device
driver and a format program
that offers either 720K bytes or
1.44 megabytes of storage

(depending on which type of
drive you’ve installed). It is
compatible with all desktop
systems using DOS (includ¬
ing PS/2s and HP 150 systems)
and most laptops such as To¬
shiba, IBM, Zenith, Tandy,
and GRiD.

Price: With 720K bytes of
storage, $299; with 1.44 mega¬
bytes of storage (works with
720K, 360K, or 180K bytes as
well), $340.

Contact: Manzana Micro-
Systems, Inc., 7334 Hollister
Ave., Suite B, P.O. Box
2117, Goleta,CA 93118,

(805) 968-1387.

Inquiry 795.

Printer Flexes

Paper-Handling

Muscles

T he IBM QuickWriter 24-
wire dot-matrix, bidirec¬
tional printer is specifically
designed to offer impact print¬
ing solutions for your word
processing, spreadsheet,
graphics, and carbon-copy
needs.

The optional bin feeder—
which automatically adjusts to
paper thickness—lets you
print pin-feed paper, single
sheets, forms, or envelopes
without having to manually
change the forms.

Quickness is indeed a vir¬
tue with a draft speed of 330
characters per second at 10
characters per inch. Letter-
quality speed is 110 cps at 10
cpi. The QuickWriter works in
five pitches—10 cpi, 12 cpi,

15 cpi, 17.1 cpi, and
proportional.

Price: $1699; pinwheel
forms feed, $129; single-bin
cut-sheet feed, $349; dual¬
drawer cut-sheet feet, $849;
envelope feed, $299.

Contact: IBM Corp., U.S
Marketing and Services
Group, 900 King St., Rye
Brook, NY 10573, (201)
930-5192.

Inquiry 796.

continued

Optical Gigabytes for Your PC

N eed ultra-large, high¬
speed data storage for
your IBM PC, XT, AT, or
compatible? Two optical
disk subsystems, featuring
1.2 and 2.4 gigabytes of ca¬
pacity in a WORM (write
once, read many) format,
are available from N/Hance
Systems.

TextScan, a document-
storage and text-retrieval
software package, allows
you to access data in under
90 milliseconds, on average.
Data transfer rate is 6.5
megabits per second. It also
uses multitrack buffering to
keep up with even the fastest
80386-based systems.

An internal single-drive
system, the Model 5120, in¬
cludes a drive, controller,
installation software, and

cabling. An external single¬
drive version of Model 5120
includes a dedicated power
supply, a cooling fan, a con¬
troller, cabling, and installa¬
tion software.

Model 5120/2 provides
the 2.4 gigabytes of capacity
in a single cabinet. The first
1.2 gigabytes is on one side
of the cartridge, and the sec¬
ond 1.2 gigabytes is on the
flip side.

Price: Internal Model 5120,
$6188; external 5120,
$6388; 5120/2, $9688.
Contact: Symphony Sys¬
tems, Inc., N/Hance Sys¬
tems Division, 908R Provi¬
dence Hwy., Dedham, MA
02026, (800) 289-9676; in
Massachusetts, (617) 461-
1970.

Inquiry 794.

68 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

If you perform
calculations, the answer
is obvious.

MathCAD 2.0.

It’s everything
you appreciate about
working on a scratch¬
pad-simple, free-form
math-and more. More
speed. More accuracy.

More flexibility.

Just define your
variables and enter your
formulas anywhere on the screen. MathCAD
formats your equations as they’re typed.
Instantly calculates the results. And displays
them exactly as you’re used to seeing them-
in real math notation, as numbers, tables
or graphs.

MathCAD is more than an equation
solver. Like a scratchpad, it allows you to add

text anywhere to
support your work,
and see and record
every step. You can
try an unlimited
number of what-ifs.
And print your
entire calculation as
an integrated docu¬
ment that anyone
can understand.

Plus, MathCAD
s loaded with powerful
built-in features. In addition to the usual trig¬
onometric and exponential functions, it
includes built-in statistical functions, cubic
splines, Fourier transforms, and more. It also
handles complex numbers and unit conver¬
sions in a completely transparent way.

Yet, MathCAD is so easy to learn, you’ll
be using its full power an hour after you begin.

What more could you ask for? How about
the new Advanced Math Applications Pack ?
A $55 value, it’s yours free when you purchase
MathCAD between August 1 and October 15,1988.
The Advanced Math Pack includes a custom
binder, software and documentation for 16
advanced applications such as:

• Runge-Kutta Solution of First Order
Differential Equation

• Solution of Second-Order Differential Equation

• Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors of a
Symmetric Matrix

• Convolution and Correlation of Sequences

• Convolutions using FFT’s

• And many more!

If you’re tired of doing calculations by
hand or writing and debugging programs, come
on over to MathCAD.

For more information contact your local
dealer or call 1-800-MATHCAD, ext. 2775
(In MA: 617-577-101?; ext. 2775).

Circle 154 on Reader Service Card

Requires IBM PC® or compatible, 512KB RAM, graphics card.

IBM PC® International Business Machines Corporation.

MathCAD® MathSoft. Inc.

MathCAD

MathSoft, Inc., One Kendall Sq., Cambridge, MA 02139
OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 69

WHAT’S NEW

ADD-INS

Coprocessor

Connectivity

Convenes

T he Connection Copro¬
cessor board from Intel
provides for telecommunica¬
tions within any compatible
data-processing application
you now run on your IBM PC,
XT, AT, or compatible. Sy¬
mantec, Microsoft, WordPer¬
fect, and several others have
announced that they will be
writing a Digital Communi¬
cations Associates/Intel speci¬
fication into new versions of
their software to make their
applications compatible.

With the Connection Co¬
processor, you’ll be able to
continue work on your com¬
puter immediately after you’ve
commanded the 10-MHz
80188 coprocessor and 256K
bytes of memory to handle
facsimile, electronic mail, or
other telecommunications
file-transfer applications. All
you need to do is address the
information and press a hot
key, according to the com¬
pany. You can then go back to
your application while the

board takes care of the com¬
munications. Intel says this
bypasses the hassle of multi¬
tasking operating systems
(where background applica¬
tions can slow or halt fore¬
ground applications).

Each Connection Copro¬
cessor has an 8K-byte EPROM
to grab the downloadable
firmware, a direct memory ac¬
cess (DMA) coprocessor in¬
terface to talk to the host, and
an expansion socket for a

modem in addition to its
microprocessor and RAM.

An option is a piggyback card
containing a Hayes-compat¬
ible 2400-bit-per-second
modem.

Price: $995; modem option,
$295.

Contact: Intel Corp., Mail
Stop C03-07, 5200 Northeast
Elam Young Pkwy., Hills¬
boro, OR 97124, (503)
629-7354.

Inquiry 784.

P roprietary software and
the Face Card copro¬
cessor let you perform unat¬
tended file transfers between
any IBM PC, XT, or AT
using a modem or cabling
within the office.

The Face Card is based on
the Hitachi Z80 8-bit micro¬
processor. It includes 256K
bytes of RAM, a 32K-byte
EPROM, 300- to 19,200-bps
data transfer rates, and an
adapter for AC or a backup
battery power supply.

The coprocessor lets you
do simultaneous telecommuni¬
cations and data-processing
applications; a separate power-
source access allows file
transfer and receipt even when
the computer is turned off.
Price: $699.

Contact: Face Technologies,
Inc., 3711 Plaza Dr., Suite 1,
Ann Arbor, MI 48108, (313)
662-8008.

Inquiry 785.

Flipping Four
Floppies Further

O mni-Bridge is a half-

length board that acts as a
floppy disk drive controller
to support up to four additional
IBM PC, XT, AT, and com¬
patible floppy disk drives.

Data transfer rates are
250K, 300K, or 500Kbps, al¬
lowing for support of any
combination of 720K-byte and
1.44-megabyte 3 Vi-inch flop¬
py disk drives, 360K-byte and
1.2-megabyte 5 Va -inch flop¬
py disk drives, and QIC-40
standard streaming-tape
drives for backing up your
hard disk. With your sys¬
tem’s existing controller, this
controller allows support for
a total of six floppy disk
drives.

Price: $95.

Contact: Sysgen, Inc., 556
Gibraltar Dr., Milpitas, CA
95035,(408) 263-4411.

Inquiry 788.

continued

Mac II Betters Disk and DAT

S outhworth Music Sys¬
tems announced three
cards for the Mac II NuBus.
They make use of parallel¬
processing Motorola 56000
signal-processing chips,
which enhance A/D (and
D/A) applications on a Mac
II by 700 times, according to
the company.

The boards support com¬
pact-disk sample rates of
44.1 kHz and digital audio
tape (DAT) sampling rates of
96 and 192 kHz.

The Max Audio Analog
card performs all A/D con¬
version using a proprietary
20-bit A/D and D/A convert¬
er, which provides 104-deci-

bel signal-to-noise ratio on
playback. The conversion is
performed by a custom cir¬
cuit that samples the input
signal 24 million times per
second and integrates the
data to 192 kHz. The Analog
card includes direct-to-disk
recording and playback soft¬
ware and real-time stereo
spectral analysis software
with 64 to 256 bands.

The Max Audio Quad
56000 DSP (digital signal
processing) card has shared
memory optionally avail¬
able, including 3 megabytes
for storage and audio sam¬
ples. The enhanced memory
aids in applications such as

reverberation and effects
processing, frequency-do-
main audio processing, and
sample playing and additive
synthesis.

The Digital Audio/
SMPTE (Society of Motion
Picture and Television Engi¬
neers) card can send and re¬
ceive data in AES/EBU digi¬
tal audio format for CD and
DAT applications.

Price: Analog card, $1400;
Quad DSP card, $1400;
SMPTE card, $995.
Contact: Southworth Music
Systems, Inc., 91 Ann Lee
Rd., Harvard, MA 01451,
(617) 772-9471.

Inquiry 786.

70 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Why Paradox 2.0 makes your
network run like clockwork

When I saw the record-locking and
autorefresh in action, I couldn’t
believe it. Here was a true network
application, a program that can actu¬
ally take advantage of a network to
provide more features and functions,
things that can’t be done with a stand¬
alone PC.

Aaron Brenner, LAN Magazine

With Version 2.0, Paradox becomes a
sophisticated multiuser product that
boasts an impressive selection of data-
production features and password-
security levels.

Rusel DeMaria, PC Week

Paradox responds instantly to
“Query-by-Example”

The method you use to ask questions
is called Query-by-Example. Instead of
spending time figuring out how to do
the query, you simply give Paradox an
example of the results you’re looking
for. Paradox picks up the example and
automatically seeks the fastest way of
getting the answer.

Queries are flexible and interactive.
And in Paradox, unlike in other data¬
bases, it's just as simple to query more
than one table as it is to query one.

« Paradox ... has quickly become
the state-of-the-art product among
PC database managers ... Paradox
still reigns supreme as the thinking
user’s DBMS.

Jim Seymour, PC Magazine 55

You don’t have to be a genius
to use Paradox

Even if you’re a beginner, Paradox
is the only relational database manager
that you can take out of the box and
begin using right away.

Because Paradox is driven by the
very latest in artificial intelligence
technology, it does almost everything
for you—except take itself out of the
box. (If you’ve ever used 1-2-3® or
dBASE,® you already know how to
use Paradox. It has Lotus-like menus,
and Paradox documentation includes
“A Quick Guide to Paradox for Lotus
Users” and “A Quick Guide to Paradox
for dBASE users.”) Paradox, it makes
your network work.

60-Day Money-back Guarantee*

For a brochure or the dealer nearest you
Call (800) 543-7543

Paradox® runs smoothly, intelligently
and so transparently that multiple
users can access the same data at
the same time—without being aware
of each other or getting in each
other’s way.

With Paradox news travels fast
and it’s always accurate
Paradox automatically updates itself
with a screen-refresh that ensures that
all the data is up to date and accurate
all the time. Record-locking, Paradox-
style, safeguards data integrity by
preventing for example, two different
users from making changes to the same
record at the same time.

How to make your multiuser network work

To run Paradox 2.0 or the Paradox Network Pack on a network, you need:

■ Novell with Novell Advanced Netware version 2.0A or higher

■ 3Com 3Plus with 3Com 3+ operating system version 1.0,1.1
or higher

■ IBM Token Ring or PC Network with IBM PC Local Area Network
Program version 1.12 or higher

■ Torus Tapestry version 1.45 or higher

■ AT&T Starlan version 1.1 or higher

■ Banyan VINES version 2.10

■ Other network contigurations that are 100% compatible with DOS
3.1 and one of the listed networks

System Requirements for the Network Workstation

■ DOS 3.1 or higher

■ 640K RAM

■ Any combination of hard, floppy, or no disk drives

■ Compatible monochrome, color, or EGA monitor with adapter

’Customer satislaction is our main concern; if within 60 days of purchase this product
does not perform in accordance with our claims, call our customer service department,
and we will arrange a relund.

Paradox is a registered trademark ol Ansa Software. Ansa is a Borland International
Company. Other brand and product names are registered trademarks or trademarks ol
their respective holders. Copyright *1988 Borland International. Bl 1243

The program elegantly handles
all the chores of a multiuser database
system with little or no effort by
network users.

Mark Cook and Steve King,
Data Based Advisor

BORLAND

INTERNATIONAL

Circle 41 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 42)

WHAT’S NEW

HARDWARE • CONNECTIVITY

ESDI File Servers
Get Powerful

ollowing an industry
trend to bring more file-
server capabilities to 80386-
based systems, Comterm intro¬
duced a system with an ESDI
controller that powers an
80386-based series of file
servers to minicomputer-like
networking versatility.

ESDI with Comterm con¬
trollers allows you up to 2.6
gigabytes of hard disk storage
with a sustained throughput of
990K bps and an average ac¬
cess time of 19 milliseconds.

Using Novell’s NetWare as
the operating system and the
industry-standard ARCnet,
Ethernet, or token-ring proto¬
cols, each machine serves as
many users as the respective
protocols will support. Each
of the three models has 1.2-
megabyte floppy disk storage
capacities and four enclosed
LAN software packages:
ComShell, E-Mail, LAN
Tools, and Notemaker. All
the CPUs are 16-MHz 80386s
with no wait states.

There’s also an AT-stan-
dard 101-key keyboard, a 14-
inch monochrome monitor,
and at least one hard disk
drive. Model 4 has 330
megabytes of fault-tolerant disk
storage (expandable to 660
megabytes) and 3 megabytes of
system and cache RAM.

There are two parallel ports,
two serial ports, and one
ESDI disk controller.

Model 8 has 5 megabytes
of system memory plus cache
memory, two ESDI disk con¬
trollers, one parallel port, and
660 megabytes of formatted
capacity.

Model 12 has 7 megabytes
of system memory plus cache
memory, three ESDI disk

controllers, 1.98 gigabytes of
formatted capacity, and one
parallel port. Model 12 can
have an expanded formatted
capacity of up to 2.6 gigabytes,
and the company is working
on expanding that memory to 4
gigabytes with 10 slots.

Price: ARCnet Model 4,
$28,495; Model 8, $42,995;
Model 12, $76,995. Ethernet
models are $29,495, $43,995,
and $77,995, respectively.
Token-ring models are
$29,995, $44,495, and
$78,495, respectively.
Contact: Comterm, Inc.,

110 Hymus Blvd., Pointe
Claire, Quebec, Canada H9R
1E8, (514) 694-4332.

Inquiry 790.

Coaxial Repeater
Goes the Distance

L ANpac II repeaters from
Racore Computer Prod¬
ucts extend the distance be¬
tween networking nodes up to
10,000 feet. “Electronics,
power, and a timing shift”
allow for sequential placing
of up to 10 repeaters every
1,000 feet, the company
claims.

The repeater works with
the proprietary network LAN¬
pac II, which the company
says is the fastest network
hardware using the most pop¬
ular networking operating sys¬
tem, Novell NetWare. LAN¬
pac II network architecture is
either linear, bus, or star.

Data transfer rate is 16
megabits per second over co¬
axial cabling with a propri¬
etary “high-speed polling
scheme,” which eliminates
the data collisions and the re¬
transmission of data packets
made necessary by such colli¬
sions in Ethernet networks,
for example. The polling can
be set at the repeater for
every 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50
microseconds.

You select the setting to
compensate for propagation de¬
lay in the cable, which is
partly dependent on cable
length. In addition, the re¬
peater can be configured to
poll 32 or 64 nodes at once.

Each LANpac II system
allows you to connect up to
254 nodes. The repeaters are
either stand-alone versions or
full-length adapter cards that
plug into standard IBM PC,
XT, AT, PS/2 Micro Chan¬
nel, and compatible interfaces,
usually within the file
server.

Price: Stand-alone version,
$495; PC card version, $395.
Contact: Racore Computer
Products, Inc., 170 Knowles
Dr., Los Gatos, CA 95030,
(408) 374-8290.

Inquiry 791.

continued

AT&T Enhances Starlan

A T&T’s Starlan 10 gives
you the choice of net¬
working with the already-in¬
stalled telephone wiring in
your building or with the
more traditional coaxial
cable. All you need is a full-
length PC, XT, AT, or com¬
patible card (or a Micro
Channel card for PS/2 con¬
nectivity) and a hub.

Adapters, repeaters, and
bridges are sold separately,
based on your specific net¬
working needs.

Early next year, you’ll be
able to upgrade all this 10-
megabit-per-second Ether¬
net wiring with optical fiber
cabling, increasing the max¬
imum possible distance be¬
tween your PCs and your hub

to 3280 feet. Already avail¬
able are interhub fiber adapt¬
ers that increase the distance
between hubs to 9800 feet
(compared to the 328 feet of¬
fered by unshielded twisted¬
pair).

But regardless of your
wiring choice, Starlan 10
will give you 10-megabit-
per-second data rates, links
to 1-megabit-per-second
Starlan networks, links to
other Starlan 10 networks,
and your choice of operating
systems. DOS users will
want the DOS Server Pro¬
gram version 3.1.

Software options include a
remote PC gateway, an asyn¬
chronous gateway, gateways
for connection to IBM Stan¬

dard Network Architecture
(SNA) mainframes, net¬
work routers for connection
to remote networks over
X.25 facilities, and certain
terminal-emulation pro¬
grams for connectivity to
proprietary terminals.
Price: Network hub unit,
$ 1895; twisted-pair or coax¬
ial PC or PS/2 board, $495;
adapter for twisted-pair con¬
nection from an Ethernet
card, $200; fiber interhub
adapter, $500; each 1:10
bridge, $4500; each 10:10
bridge, $7000.

Contact: AT&T Data Sys¬
tems, One Speedwell Ave.,
Morristown, NJ 07960,
(800) 247-1212.

Inquiry 789.

72 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

DEC’ VT220 T«imlful Ertiulatrx
w#h ASCII «nd Dinar/ FJo Tmrwtof

DEC* VT240 / VT24I Color Graphic* Torminal Emulator
with ASCII and Binary File Transfer and
DEC ReGIS and ToMiontx* 4014 Emulation

*•*'W 4014 C'lnh ti

:: .1- DEC v'r

*.j> MdiromitVnhry f*

EmulateThe Best
WithThe Brightest

There’s no denying the availability of some outstanding dedicated terminals to
access Digitalf Hewlett-Packard, and Data General® host systems. Which makes the
task of precisely emulating the performance of those dedicated terminals on an
IBM® PC or compatible a rather significant challenge.

Based on the feedback we’ve received from Smarlerm® users, our family of
terminal emulation software has met the challenge, passed every test, and surpassed,
in the opinion of a host of enthusiastic users, the performance of the host system
terminals being emulated.

The reasons why we shine are fundamental.

Every Smarlerm emulation is precise. So precise, in fact, that a dedicated
terminal’s Smarlerm counterpart fully emulates not only advanced performance
features but also unique terminal quirks and bugs.

Every Smarlerm emulation is easy to use. It’s one thing to make software do
what hardware does. It’s another challenge to minimize software’s human wear. The
people designing our products understand the nature of the people using them.

Every Smarlerm emulation is easy to learn. These days, training costs are a hot
topic. Software intended to boost overall system efficiency must recognize the value
of learning speed. We have.

It’s also easy to learn more about how Smarlerm emulations can help you
shine, lour software dealer can supply all the details. Or you can contact us at
(608) 273-6000 to request complete specifications and a demonstration disk of the
Smarlerm emulation that precisely matches your requirements.

© 1988 Pcrsoft, Inc., 465 Science Drive, Madison, Wisconsin 53711 U.S.A. Persoft and Smarlerm are registered trademarks of Persoft, Inc. All Rights Reserved. IBM is a registered trademark of
International Business Machines Corporation. Digital is a registered trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation. Data General is a registered trademark of Data General Corporation.

Circle 200 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 • BYTE 73

ClearCase "Mouse-Special Edition From Logitech.

To celebrate the shipment of our two millionth mouse, we
took the covers off our winning technology

But this mouse is a lot more than just a pretty case It's
compatible with virtually all mouse-based programs, plus you
can program it to "mousijy"any keyboard-based application.
And it doesn't need resetting when you switch programs.

High resolution, adjustable cursor control, and a program¬
mable 9,600 baud rate let you move the cursor quickly and
accurately, even on detailed graphics-perfect for applications

for Christmas.

like PaintShow" 1 which, it so happens, comes with your
ClcarCasc Mouse.

You get everything for $149. The package includes: the
Logitech ClearCasc Mouse for IBM PC, XT, or AT and PS/2 or
100% compatibles; a 9-25 pin adapter; Plus Package "'software;
and Logitech PaintShow "' (which requires a graphics card).

Pick up the ClearCasc Mouse
atyour computer dealer,

or call: 800-231-7717. . ^s-^\-Trr^\_\

(In California call lH LCJC^I I tv_^H

800-552-8885.) Personal Peripherals. World wide.

Circle 146 on Reader Service Card (DEA1JSRS: 147)

WHAT’S NEW

HARDWARE • OTHER

MFLOPS Help Mac
II Process Digital
Signals

A floating-point accelera¬
tor card for the Mac II
allows it to acquire data at up
to 125 kHz and can operate on
that data using signal-pro¬
cessing functions and display
the results in real time. For
example, a spectrogram func¬
tion can display the “bend¬
ing” frequency components of
a slide guitar in real time
while you listen to a compact
disk recording.

The MacDSP board (with
accompanying software) is
available in three speeds: 8
MFLOPS, 12.5 MFLOPS, and
25 MFLOPS. It’s based on
AT&T’s DSP32 floating-point
digital-signal processor, and
it lets you observe the func¬
tions as they’re applied.

The board supports more
than 10 signal-processing

functions, including fast
Fourier transforms, spectral
averaging, and elliptic HR
filters. The functions can be
applied to incoming data,
data stored in main memory,
and data on your disks. Data
can be manipulated in both an¬
alog and digital formats.

You can display data in
several formats, including
magnitude, phase, color
spectrogram, and waterfall.

Log scaling, zoom, and max¬
imum amplitude hold are fea¬
tures that can be performed
with standard Macintosh
menus. Multiple windows
allow you to compare the
results of a variety of
operations.

AT&T’s DSP32 C com¬
piler and simulator provide
software suppport, and the
board uses firmware for access
to processor registers from

Virtual 80386s Run from Host CPU

T he UnTerminal, an
add-in board from Ad¬
vanced Micro Research, and
PC-MOS/386, a virtual MS-
DOS from The Software
Link, together allow you to
run multiple multitasking
workstations from a single
80386-based machine.

Such a distributed concept
is based on the fact that the
Intel 80386 chip, when com¬
bined with specialized soft¬
ware, creates a virtual PC
for running multiple DOS
applications under the Unix
operating system. Unix pro¬
vides the platform for multi¬
user applications such as
database management, word
processing, and communi¬
cations.

PC-MOS/386 allows the
host CPU to run all off-the-
shelf DOS applications for
any of the virtual PCs. The

boards take the multitasking
capabilities of the 80386
microprocessor and distrib¬
ute them via 25-pin copper
cabling to as many as 16 vir¬
tual PCs in the form of key¬
board/monitor units. You
can locate each keyboard/
monitor unit as far as 500
feet from the 80386 host to
obtain 16-megabit-per-sec-
ond connectivity.

A single full-length board
(with as many as three
daughterboards) fits an AT
or compatible slot and sup¬
ports four keyboard/monitor
units as workstations ad-
junctly to the main CPU.
With a 20-MHz system, four
adjunct users and a host user
taking full advantage of each
workstation will slow down
each person’s virtual pro¬
cessing to about 4 MHz.

As many as four full-

length boards can be placed
in a single 80386, support¬
ing a total of 12 daughter¬
boards, with each board sup¬
porting one workstation.
Supporting this maximum of
16 users would slow down a
16-MHz CPU to virtually 1
MHz at a theoretical maxi¬
mum load.

Price: Full-length DOS Un-
Terminal board, $745; DOS
daughterboard, $379; full-
length Unix UnTerminal
board, $895; Unix daughter¬
board, $425. Boards that fit
Unix CPUs are also avail¬
able, as are the 80386-based
systems from which you can
network the workstations.
Contact: Advance Micro
Research, Inc., One Lagoon
Dr., Suite 100, Redwood
City, CA 94065, (415) 594-
9991.

Inquiry 810.

Macintosh driver functions.
Custom signal processing
can also be developed and di¬
rectly downloaded onto the
card.

Price: 8-MFLOPS version
with driver software and 64K
bytes of RAM, $2249; 12-
MFLOPS version, $2745; 25-
MFLOPS version, $3241;
125-kHz programmable 16-bit
A/D and D/A card, $486;

DSP software package, unbun¬
dled, $496.

Contact: Spectral Innova¬
tions, Inc., 292 Gibraltar Dr.,
Suite A-4, Sunnyvale, CA
94089, (408) 734-1314.

Inquiry 798.

Digital Waveform
Analysis on the PC

U p to 20 million samples
per second can be taken
with the R2000M, a 128K-
byte PC-based oscilloscope.
An IBM PC, XT, AT, or
compatible needs only 640K
bytes of RAM, graphics sup¬
port of CGA, EGA, or Hercu¬
les (with color graphics emu¬
lation), and a free expansion
slot.

The R2000M is particu¬
larly useful, the manufacturer
claims, in applications re¬
quiring high-speed A/D con¬
version. It can replace tradi¬
tional oscilloscopes for
transient, vibration, modal,
and shock waveform analysis.

Features include an 8-bit
A/D converter for each chan¬
nel with a low front end; 50-
ohm input switchable to one
million ohms; software-
selectable gains from 10 milli¬
volts per division to 50 volts
per division; and an optional
real-time fast Fourier trans¬
form and general-purpose in¬
terface bus (GPIB) interface.
Price: $3995.

Contact: Rapid Systems,

Inc., 433 North 34th St.,
Seattle, WA 98103, (206)
547-8311.

Inquiry 811.

continued

76 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

XODlAc

every computer on the network. ORACLE solves problems
If your users know nothing about at the fight level
communications or networks, u . u ,

ORACLE will help keep it that way. ^f e V ou unsure w ^ch or how
SQL*Star™ is Oracle’s open many networks your company

systems architecture for enterprise X' 1 " u ,l 1 !? 2 , 6 XJ? e f 0 i P m' 0 “

networking. It allows you to have L K U6 ' 2 -
integrate all your computers, asynchronous lines, 32 7 0 data
ooeratins systems networks—even stream, MAI/TOP, Novell Netware,
SSffi&dSSgT Banp;W LAN Mayr, 3COM
unified computingand information ^ + u ORACLE supports them all.
management environment. With u Has changed m

SQL*Star, your users can unite ! change m the

information on PCs, minis and ^n U .r', ^PP* lc , atl ? ns hmh using

mainframes across il your local ORACLE won t change a bit.

and wide-area network. ORACLE’S , 0rade Corporation is the worlds
open systems design even allows largest supplier of data management
vnn tn fnmrarenflv software and services,

access IBM : s SQL/DS ORACLE and the only supplier
nnrinR? i of enterprise-wide network-

/m ing and data sharing. Oracle’s
consulting and support
services will insure trouble-
free operation any-
, where in the world.

% To register for the

\ next free ORACLE

\ seminar in your

\ area, call or
write today.

If you purchase or write soft¬
ware that interfaces at the
wrong level (lower than
OSI Level 7), you have
a network-dependent
application. Appli¬
cations built using
ORACLE are net¬
work independent.

SESSION

TRANSPORT

NETWORK

PHYSICAL

20 Oavis Drive, Belmonl, CA 94002 • World Headquarters (415)
598-8000 • Calgary (403)265-2622 ■ Oltawa (613) 238-2381
• Quebec (514)337-0755 • Toronto (416)596-7750 • ORACLE
Systems Australia 61-2-959- 5080 ■ ORACLE Europe
44-1-948-6911 • ORACLE Systems Hong Kong 852-5-266846

Copyright © 1988 by Oracle Corporation.
ORACLE is a registered trademark and
SQL*Star is a trademark of Oracle Corporation.
The other companies mentioned own
numerous registered trademarks.

Call 1-800-345-DBMS, ext. 149 today.

U.S. SEMINARS

AL Birmingham.Oct 11

AR Little Rock.Oct 13

AZ Phoenix.Sep 13, Oct 13, Nov 8

Tucson.Oct 25

CA Costa Mesa.Sep 1, Oct 4, Nov 11

Los Angeles.... Sep 15, Oct 18, Nov 15

Oakland.Oct 6

Sacramento.Sep 22, Nov 10

San Diego.Sep 8, Oct 6, Nov 3

San Francisco .... Sep 14, Oct 11, Nov 9

San Jose.Sep 20, Oct 26, Nov 17

CO Denver.Sep 22, Oct 27

Colorado Springs.Oct 25

CT Farmington.Oct 4

New Haven.Sep 8

Stamford.Nov 15

DC Washington (Federal) .Sep 16,

Oct 21, Nov 18

.Oct 18

.Oct 19

.Sep 14

... Sep 7, Oct 5. Nov 9

.Sep 13

.Sep 13, Nov 10

.Oct 5

Sep 15. Oct 11, Nov 16

.Sep 14, Nov 9

.Oct 13. Nov 17

.Sep 13

O RACLE® isn’t just the

world’s best data manage¬
ment system, it’s the only
system that runs on mainframes,
minicomputers and PCs—the only
system that can integrate all your
computers and all your data, into
a single enterprise-wide network.

You’ve invested a lot of money
in communication controllers,
satellite links and wire to connect
your computers. Yet, to access
data located on any computer other
than the one to which you are
directly connected, you still have to:
• Know which computer has the
data you want

• Know how to use a terminal
emulator to log onto that computer
• Know how to use a file transfer
program to bring your data over
Enterprise networking must
provide easy access to data any¬
where in the network. Only
ORACLE makes this possible, today.
Only ORACLE runs on all your
computers, today. Only the ORACLE
distributed DBMS provides you
with transparent access to data on

FL Ft. Lauderdale
Jacksonville...

Orlando.

GA Atlanta.

HI Honolulu.

IA Dcs Moines. ..

ID Boise.

IL Chicago.

Springfield ....

IN Indianapolis..

KS Wichita.

KY Lexington.

Louisville.

LA New Orleans.

Shreveport.

MA Boston.

Burlington.

Springfield.

MD Bethesda (Commercial)

Baltimore.

ME Portland.

MI Detroit.

Grand Rapids..

MN Minneapolis....

MO Kansas City....

St. Louis.

NC Charlotte.

Raleigh.

Winston-Salem

NE Omaha.

NH Concord.

NJ lsclin.

Princeton.

NM Albuquerque...

NV Las \fcgas.

NY Albany.

Buffalo.

Long Island....

New York City

Sep 14
Oct 12
Oct 28
Oct 13
Oct 12
Nov 18
Oct 12
Sep 21
Oct 19

.Oct 5

... Sep 13, Oct 4, Nov 8

.Oct 12

Sep 27, Oct 19, Nov 10

.Sep 14, Oct 18

.... Sep 6, Oct 6, Nov 7

.Oct 20, Nov 17

.Sep 15, Nov 2

.Oct 5

.Oct 4

.Sep 20

Sep 15, Oct 13, Nov 17

. Sep 15. Oct 4, Nov 22

.Sep 29

.Sep 22, Nov 10

.Sep 20, Nov 9

.Oct 4

Sep 20. Oct 19, Nov 16

.Sep 14, Sep 28,

Oct 12. Oct 26. Nov 9. Nov 16
Rochester.Sep 14. Nov 2

OH Akron.

Cincinnati..

.. Sep 20
..Sep 15

vaeveianu.

Columbus.

.uti ly

.Sep 22

Oklahoma City

.Sep 13

Tulsa.

.Oct 25

Portland.

.Sep 8. Nov 15

Harrisburg.

.Sep 26

Philadelphia...

Sep 19, Oct 26, Nov 18

Pittsburgh.

.Oct 26

Valley Forge

.Sep 8, Nov 10

Providence.

.Sep 22

Charleston.

.Oct 5

Columbia.

.Nov 16

Greenville.

.Oct 19

Memphis.

.Sep 14

Nashville.

.Nov 9

Amarillo.

.Sep 20

Austin.

.Oct 20

Dallas.

.Sep 7, Oct 4, Nov 2

Ft. Warth.

.Nov 9

Houston.

.... Sep 8, Oct 6, Nov 10

Midland.

.Oct 19

San Antonio...

.Oct 21

Salt Lake City.

.Sep 20, Nov 9

Norfolk (Federal) .Oct 4

Richmond.

.Oct 6, Nov 1

Burlington.

.Sep 28

Seattle.

.Sep 14, Oct 20

Spokane.

.Nov 3

Madison.

.Oct 5

Milwaukee.

.Oct 12, Nov 29

CANADIAN SEMINARS

To register for Canadian seminars,
please call the office nearest you-
Calgary 403-265-2622, Ottawa 613-
238-2381 ,Quebec 514-337-0755,

Toronto 416-596-7750.

Calgary.Sep 15, Nov 17

Edmonton

Halifax.

Kingston...

London.

Montreal...

Ottawa.

Quebec.

Regina.

Saskatoon .
Toronto....
Vancouver
Victoria....
Winnipeg

Oct 6

.Oct 13

. Sep 16

.Oct 20

Sep 28, Oct 26, Nov 23

.Sep 1. Oct 6, Nov 3

.Sep 7, Oct 5. Nov 2

.Sep 22

.Nov 10

...Sep 13, Oct 11. Nov 8

.Sep 8. Nov 10

.Nov 24

Oct 20

Winnipeg.Oct 20

Attn: National Seminar Coordinator
Oracle Corporation • 20 Davis Drive
Belmont, California 94002

I I My business card or letterhead
— is attached. Please enroll me in
the FREE ORACLE seminar to
be held

WHAT’S NEW

ARATforA/UX

A new FORTRAN com¬
piler for Apple’s A/UX
Unix environment uses a
technology originally devel¬
oped for the Motorola 88000
that Absoft has dubbed
“RAT” (for RISC Architec¬
ture Technology). The com¬
pany claims that the compiler
takes maximum advantage of
the Mac II’s 68020 register
set and executes programs an
average of 30 percent faster
than other Unix-based FOR¬
TRAN compilers.

It’s called MacFortran/
AUX, and Absoft says it meets
full ANSI FORTRAN 77,
IEEE P754, and military stan¬
dard 1753 specifications. It
also supports most VAX/VMS
FORTRAN extensions, as
well as many of the extensions
of FORTRAN 8X, Com¬
plex*^, and Namelist.

The compiler gives you
full access to Unix and the
Macintosh Toolbox. It also
supports interlanguage calling
with C. Although MacFor¬
tran/AUX has a standard Unix-
style command-line inter¬
face, it also comes with a
Macintosh-style graphical in¬
terface that’s written com¬
pletely in FORTRAN. Absoft
even provides the source code,
which includes over 150
Toolbox calls.

The company also says it’s
working on a version of the
RAT compiler that will run
under Macintosh Program¬
mers’ Workshop 3.0 on
68020/68030-based Macs.
Absoft claims the current and
future versions of the RAT
compiler will be 100 percent
source-compatible with prior
versions of FORTRAN and
with each other.

Price: $495.

Contact: Absoft, 2781 Bond
St., Auburn Hills, MI 48057,
(313) 853-0050.

Inquiry 751.

SOFTWARE • PROGRAMMING

File Cdit Format Controls Functions Windows Tools

Develop and Debug
SQL Databases

I f you’re an MS-DOS pro¬
grammer who’s working on
developing structured query
language (SQL)-based data¬
base applications, Informix
has a “fourth-generation”
product that will make your
life easier. The Informix-4GL
Rapid Development System
and Interactive Debugger, as
its name implies, lets you do

both the development and the
debugging.

According to the company,
the product reduces your appli¬
cation development time be¬
cause it eliminates the need for
a C compiler. It compiles the
4GL code into a p-code that
you can execute with an in¬
cluded p-code runner. You can
then use the interactive de¬
bugger to find and correct any
programming errors. There’s
also a built-in option that lets
you take advantage of up to
16 megabytes of extended

A Bumper Crop of C Functions

F or those C program¬
mers who don’t want to
keep reinventing the wheel,
Greenleaf Software is offer¬
ing SuperFunctions, a li¬
brary of nearly 400 func¬
tions for advanced pro¬
grammers. All functions
come with complete source
code.

SuperFunctions features
routines that give you access
to as much as 32 megabytes
of Lotus/Intel/Microsoft
(LIM) expanded memory
version 4.0, and access to
high-level DOS functions
such as the critical error han¬
dler. There’s also an ad¬
vanced set of time-and-date
functions that include proj¬
ect-scheduling support, as
well as bit-field structures

that compress temporal vari¬
ables into 16- or 32-bit words
for saving space when you’re
doing database development
work.

There are also device-in-
dependent menu-creation
options that include overlaid
windows with automatic
screen refresh when the win¬
dows are removed.

You can use SuperFunc¬
tions with any IBM PC, XT,
AT, PS/2, or compatible.
You’ll also need MS-DOS
2.0 or higher.

Price: $265.

Contact: Greenleaf Soft¬
ware, Inc., Bent Tree Tower
Two, Suite 570, 16479 Dal¬
las Pkwy., Dallas, TX
75248,(214) 248-2561.
Inquiry 754.

memory for creating larger
applications.

The development system
includes features that let you
customize the end-user envi¬
ronment with pop-up windows,
selectable colors, and help
screens. There’s also a flexible
report writer. The interactive
part of the package lets you set
breakpoints, display the con¬
tents of variable arrays, and
trace functions.

The Informix-4GL Rapid
Development System and In¬
teractive Debugger runs on
the IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2s,
and 100 percent compatibles.
Price: $1495.

Contact: Informix Software,
Inc., 4100 Bohannon Dr.,
Menlo Park, CA 94025,

(415) 322-4100.

Inquiry 752.

Fast Prolog for
Your Mac

A pplied Logic Systems
has ported its ALS Prolog
to the Macintosh environ¬
ment, retaining its incremental
interactive compiler. When
you’re using ALS Prolog, the
compilation step is com¬
pletely transparent; you inter¬
act with the system using text
editor windows just as if you
were using an interpreter.
There’s also a built-in
debugger.

For Mac aficionados, the
company has added a program¬
mer’s interface to Quick¬
Draw and a graphics window
for making pictures with
Prolog.

To run ALS Prolog, you’ll
need a Mac Plus, SE, or II,
Apple’s 128K-byte ROM,
and a minimum of a megabyte
of RAM. A hard disk drive is
recommended.

Price: $349.

Contact: Applied Logic Sys¬
tems, Inc., Box 90, University
Station, Syracuse, NY
13210, (315) 471-3900.

Inquiry 753.

continued

78 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

boost your BASIC

ProB

•AS

>TM

Professional Basic

Programming Library

ProBas is a library of 232 routines that
kicks BASCOM and QuickBASIC into
5th gear and gives you powers and
abilities far beyond those of mortal
men. So much for the hype, now down
to brass tacks:

The ToolKit is a collection of assembly
and BASIC modules that use the ProBas
library to save you even more hours of grunt
work. Why spend hundreds of hours re¬
inventing the wheel when you can just plug
in ToolKit modules like:

ProB

•AS

T eleCommT oolKit

The ProBas TeleComm ToolKit is a col¬
lection of high-level communications
modules that you plug into your code to pro¬
vide popular file transfer protocols, terminal
emulations, login scripts and baud rates up
to 57,600 bps. You get:

• 600 page 3-part manual

• Full-featured windowing

• Screen snapshots

• Virtual screens in memory

• Lightning-fast file I/O

• Full mouse support

Plus over 200 essential services from
directory and equipment routines to
handy string, date, time, and input
routines. For all versions of QuickBASIC
and BASCOM including BASCOM 6.0
for OS/2. Just $99.00!

• Menu Generators

• Fast B-tree indexing

• Mini-editor with word-wrap

• Patch .EXE files

• Protected storage areas

• Julian date routines

Plus clock, calendar, BCD math routines,
and much more. Complete with BASIC
source code and comprehensive manual.
The ProBas adds capabilities and helps
conserve your most valuable asset of all,
time! Requires ProBas. Just $99.00!

• Xmodem/Modem7/Xmodem-l k

• Ymodem (single and batch)

• CRC-16 and Checksum

• VT52, VTIOO, ANSI BBS etc.

• Auto Dialer & data base

• Documented BASIC source

Why use clumsy SHELLS to complex
terminal programs when you can plug
just the communications routines you
need into your code? Implement just
the features, and commands you want.
Requires ProBas. Just $75.00!

CREENtm

Our thirty day, money-back guarantee assures
you the highest quality and our technical sup¬
port staff is always ready to help. Try our BBS
at (301) 953-7738 or give us a call at:

On-Line Help
For ProBas

ProRef is a pop-up help system for the
232 routines in ProBas, pop-up help for
your routines, and an extension of the
QuickBASIC programming environment.
See the calling syntax and help for any
ProBas routine, or any of your rou¬
tines, with just a few keystrokes or mouse
clicks. Pop-up and ASCII chart, calcu¬
lator, keyboard scan code module or
almost any DOS program via hot-key. Just
$50.00!

Circle 108 on Reader Service Card

Professional Screen
Management System
ProScreen is a full-featured screen
generator/editor that will save you more
design and coding time than you ever
thought possible. ProScreen works with
screens like a word processor works with
text to provide complete control over
screen characters, placement and colors.
ProScreen comes with subroutine
source, extensive on-line help and a
285 page manual with tutorial and
reference. Just $99.00!

HfiMMERLY

COMPUTER SERVICES, INC.

8008 SANDY SPRING ROAD • LAUREL, MD 20707

( 301 ) 953-2191

Add $3.00 per item ($7.00 Canada) for shipping. Trade¬
marks ProBas, ProRef, ProScreen: Hammeriy Computer
Services, Inc. QuickBASIC, BASCOM: Microsoft Corp.

OCTOBER 1988 • B Y T E 79

WHAT’S NEW

SOFTWARE • SCIENTIFIC AND ENGINEERING

Lab View Forges
Ahead

V ersion 2.0 of National
Instruments’ Lab View
system for the Macintosh has
added a number of new fea¬
tures. Designed as a general-
purpose tool for data ac¬
quisition, analysis, and
instrument control, Lab View
is an icon-based graphical
programming system.

Among the new features
are color support, a run-time
system for distributing appli¬
cations, integer data type sup¬
port, and MultiFinder back¬
ground execution. Also added
is a compiler, which the com¬
pany claims makes LabView
run up to 10 times faster than
the previous version. Unlike
version 1.2, which interpret¬
ed the graphical program, ver¬
sion 2.0 generates machine
code directly from the block
diagram. National Instru¬
ments claims that I/O-intensive
applications execute three
times faster, and computation¬
intensive benchmarks run up
to 60 times faster.

LabView 2.0 also has
perked up editing capabilities
that include diagram rubber¬
banding, complete Clipboard
cut and paste, multiple-object
selection, and the ability to
drag objects between win¬
dows. To increase flexibility in
evaluating graphical results,
there’s an interactive pan and
zoom with cursor control. On
a Mac II, you can set the color
of plot traces, icons, back¬
grounds, and scroll areas.

LabView 2.0 has added
Chebyshev and Butterworth
low-pass and high-pass fil¬
ters and additional numerical
methods routines to the exist¬
ing digital signal processing
and statistical analysis rou¬
tines in the library. The pro¬
gram runs on the Mac Plus,

SE, and II. If you already
own LabView 1.2, you can
upgrade to version 2.0 at
no charge.

LabView 2 .0 has a raft of new features.

Price: $1995.

Contact: National Instru¬
ments, 12109 Technology
Blvd., Austin, TX 78727,
(800) 531-4742; in Texas,
(800) 433-3488.

Inquiry 757.

FANSIM Works
with Frequency

F ANSIM is short for fre¬
quency analysis and simu-

A Solid Diet for AutoCAD

I f you’ve had enough of
wire-frame CAD and
want something more sub¬
stantial, Autodesk is now
shipping AutoSolid, a solid-
model CAD package that
uses both constructive solid
geometry (CSG) and bound¬
ary representation modeling
techniques. The package is
based on PADL, the Univer¬
sity of Rochester’s Parts and
Assembly Description Lan¬
guage. Autodesk has rewrit¬
ten PADL in C, making it,
the company claims, porta¬
ble and more efficient.

Autodesk says that be¬
cause of its intuitive user in¬
terface and CSG modeling
techniques (analogous to the
way mechanical designers
work), AutoSolid is easy to
use. Pop-up menus guide
you through system opera¬
tions , and you can get on-line
help at any point. You can
construct a model using
solid primitives that you
combine using Boolean op¬
erations. The finished
model is then generated by

using sweep techniques.

AutoSolid has DXF and
IGES file-transfer capabili¬
ties that let AutoCAD and
other design packages use its
data. The link is bidirec¬
tional, letting you transfer
solid models to AutoCAD
for design detailing and
drafting. You can also trans¬
fer AutoCAD two-dimen¬
sional profiles to AutoSolid,
where you can use them to
create solid models with the
package’s revolution and ex¬
trusion capabilities.

To use AutoSolid, you’ll
need an IBM PC AT, Com¬
paq 386, or compatible hard¬
ware running Santa Cruz
Operations’ version 2.2
Xenix. Autodesk says future
releases of the product will
support other hardware and
operating systems, includ¬
ing Sun and Apollo.

Price: $5000.

Contact: Autodesk, Inc.,
2320 Marinship Way, Sau-
salito, CA 94965, (415)
332-2344.

Inquiry 758.

lation. It provides frequency
analysis of open-loop and
closed-loop response, finds
transfer functions of real or
simulated systems, and also
finds poles or zeros.

With FANSIM, you can
take real data, simulated data,
or internally synthesized
functions to find overall fre¬
quency response. The pro¬
gram will also accept or output
different forms of frequency
response functions.

FANSIM runs on the IBM
PC and compatibles. It re¬
quires a math coprocessor
and a Hercules, CGA, or EGA
display. You’ll also need at
least 330K bytes of free RAM,
although 512K bytes is
recommended.

Price: $395.

Contact: Tutsim Products,

200 California Ave., #212,
Palo Alto, CA 94306, (415)
325-4800.

Inquiry 760.

An Algebra Library
for C

I f you’re an engineer or sci¬
entist who does extensive
programming in C, C-LIN
will make your job easier. It’s
a library of linear algebra
subroutines that, according to
its maker, have been written
specifically to take advantage
of the array-manipulation
characteristics of C.

The C-LIN library con¬
sists of 42 functions, 40 of
which come in both single-
and double-precision versions.
It’s available in both com¬
piled and source code versions.
The compiled versions are
available for Borland Turbo C
and Microsoft C.

Price: Compiled version,

$69; source code version,

$140.

Contact: JAYAR Systems,

253 College St., Suite 263,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M5T1R5, (416) 751-3284.

Inquiry 761.

continued

80 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Nam*

\W p ^ 1 want to know more about the Commix 32
■ Cv Office Network.

^ P a a |"^ rr g^ 1 more product information so 1 can
w EZIN VJ IVI C learn how the Commix can help me.

I| Al/C a sa ' es representative cali me to discuss the
nMVC benefits further.

Title

Company

Telephone

Address

City

State Zip

Illllllll

ITRON

130 GAITHER DRIVE
SUITE 116

MT. LAUREL, NJ 08054
(609) 722-5575 (800) 423-8044

NO POSTAGE
NECESSSARY
IF MAILED
IN THE

UNITED STATES

BUSINESS REPLY MAIL

FIRST CLASS PERMIT NO. 130 MT. LAUREL, NJ

POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE

lllllllll

ITRON

130 Gaither Drive, Suite 116
Mt. Laurel, NJ 08054-9983

■ 11 1 ■ ■ I ■ 11 111 1 1 1 1 1 ■ 1 1 ■ 11 ■ I ■ 1 1 ■ 1 1 ■ 1 11 1 1 ■ 1 1 1 ■ ■ 1 1 ■ 11

You can rely on a file server for
LAN communications...

All you need is patience.
And faith.

You’re getting the drift of this message already. File
servers aren’t designed to solve the PC user’s commu¬
nications problem. But now there’s a system that is.

Now there’s COMMIX™ 32.

It’s a general purpose local area network for PCs and
minicomputer hosts. It connects you with the host,
other PCs, and peripherals such as printers, plotters,
or modems through simple, pop-up menu commands.

For file transfer and E-mail as a background
task. For printer spooling and sharing directly from
your applications programs. For terminal emulation
that’s automatic. COMMIX 32 will let anyone perform
common LAN tasks—without the need for expert
assistance.

Install it quickly. Expand it easily.

Almost any PC user can install and connect with
COMMIX. With each connection, you’re saving time
and money. Because each COMMIX connection costs
as little as $150.

Then take advantage of expansion possibilities.
With our optional Ethernet® Link Module, you can
create larger LANs with thousands of users. And
through our optional Wide Area Network Module,
distant COMMIX LANs can appear as one network.

If you’re lost at sea.

And looking for solid LAN. The COMMIX 32 is
available now. Send us a message: ITRON, a Division
of Infotron Systems Corporation, 130 Gaither Drive,
Suite 116, Mount Laurel, NJ 08054.

TEL: (609) 722-5575 FAX: (609) 234-0451
In the United Kingdom: (01) 735-0731
In Europe: (2) 725-0770

1-800-423-8044

IHIIN

ITRON

An Infotron Division

Circle 124 on Reader Service Card

COMMIX is a trademark of Infotron Corporation Ethernet is a registered trademark of Xerox Corporation.

The Ultimate
Business Machines

In just three years, CLUB American Technologies
has grown into a multi-million dollar computer
manufacturer. What's the secret to our success? The
answer is simple, CLUB delivers solidly designed
systems which are famous for high performance and
superior quality. That's why so many fortune 500
companies depend on us. Additionally, CLUB's
on-line engineers are available to support you every
business day with optional on-site service available.

CLUB Model 200 Series

The Model 200 Series are OS/2 compatible, 80286
based systems. They are available in either 8 or 10
MHz versions to fit your specific needs. These
economical, yet full featured AT compatibles are
perfect for any applications such as spreadsheets
and word processing.

— Model 200 Series Features & Pricing -

Intel 80286 CPU -208/208S-6/8MHz, 210/210S-8/10MHz, 211-8/10MHz 'O'
wait state, 512K DRAM, 1.2MB Floppy Disk Drive, 80287 Math Coprocessor
Socket, HD/FL Controller (controller is built-on motherboard for 'S' Models)
Keyboard Speed Switchability ('S' Models), 2 Serial/1 Parallel Ports (211), 192
Watt Power Supply, 101 Key Enhanced Keyboard, Documentation and more.

200 Series with Monitor and Adapter

Model with Hard Disk

Mono

EGA

VGA

208 or 208S with 20MB

$1275

$1625

$1875

208 or 208S with 40MB

$1420

$1770

$2020

210 or 210S with 20MB

$1705

$2065

$2305

210 or 210S with 40MB

$1850

$2210

$2450

211 with 20MB

$1805

$2165

$2405

211 with 40MB

$1950

$2310

$2550

CLUB Model 212 Series

With an effective throughput of 16 MHz, the Model
212 Series is as fast as many 386 machines at a
fraction of the price. Compatibility with the existing
AT standard ensures that the Model 212 will run your
large databases, and complicated financial software
today, as well as OS/2 applications tomorrow.

— Model 212 Series Features & Pricing —

Intel 80286-8/12,1MB of DRAM, 1.2MB Floppy Disk Drive, 1:1 Interleave
HD/FL Controller, 80287 Math Coprocessor Socket, Clock/Calendar/
Configuration with Battery Backup, Reduced Chassis (212D), 192 Watt Power
Supply, 101 Key Enhanced Keyboard, Complete Documentation, and more

212 Series with Monitor and Adapter

Model with Hard Disk

Mono

EGA

VGA

212 with 40MB

$2250

$2615

$2850

212 with 70MB

$2505

$2870

$3105

212D with 40MB

$2190

$2550

$2790

212D with 70MB

$2445

$2805

$3045

82 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

CLUB Model 300 Series

The Model 300 Series 80386 microprocessor's state of the art design
brings mainframe capability to the desktop at a vastly lower cost per
seat. Complete compatibility with OS/2 and Unix give the Model 300
Series the ability to meet the most demanding multi-user and
multi-tasking applications. Let CLUB give you the key to increased
productivity in todays complex office and engineering environments.

— Model 300 Series Features & Pricing -

Intel 80386 CPU - 8/20 (320), 8/16 (316S), 1MB 32-bit DRAM (320), 1MB DRAM (316), 1.2 MB Disk Drive,
1:1 interleave HD/FL Controller (320), HD/FL Controller (316S), 80387 Math Coprocessor Socket (320),
Weitek Support (320), 80287 Math Coprocessor Socket (316), 8 expansion slots. Clock/Calendar/ Con¬
figuration w/battery backup, 192 Watt Power Supply, 101 Key Keyboard, Dcocumentation, and more.

300 Series with Monitor and Adapter

Model with Hard Disk

Mono

EGA

VGA

316S with 40MB

$2690

$3050

$3420

316S with 130MB

$4060

$4420

$4790

320 with 70MB

$4005

$4330

$4675

320 with 130MB

$5120

$5445

$5790

CLUB Model 110

The Model 110 is an affordable entry level
computer. It's perfect for general business
applications and for low cost network nodes.

- Model 110 Features & Pricing -

Intel 8088 CPU-4.77/10 MHz, 256K RAM Maximum 640K, Flop¬
py Disk Drive and Controller, 8 Expansion Slots, 150 Watt
Power Supply, 101 Key Keyboard, Documentation and more

100 Series with Monitor and Adapter

System & Hard Disk

Mono

EGA

VGA

110 with 20MB

$895

$1255

$1495

110 with 40MB

$1080

$1440

$1680

Peripherals

For your convenience, we offer the latest

peripherals to enhance your systems. Our

manufacturing facilities are geared to build

systems the way you want them. Call and

tell us what you need. Here's a list of just

some of the products we carry.

Storage .

Floppy Drives: 5.25" - 1.2MB.

.$95

5.25"-360K ..

.$85

3.5"-1.44MB.

.$120

3.5" - 720K.

.$105

Tape Backups: Internal: 40MB.

.$580

60MB.

.$650

125MB ....

.$995

Extemal:40MB.

.$620

60MB.

.$690

Multifunction & Memory

(all prices with OK)

384K memory card for XT.

.$99

576K memory card for XT.

.$42

2MB multifunction card for AT ....

.$110

3MB extended memory card for AT

.$110

10MB EMS card for AT.

.$150

2MB EMS card for AT .

.$110

Mini I/O for XT and AT .

.$75

Mini I/O w/ floppy controller for XT $85

80286 accelerator card for XT.

.$299

Modems

1200/300 Baud rate internal.

.$99

2400/1200/300 Baud rate internal ..

.$175

2400/1200/300 Baud rate external..

.$210

1200/300 Baud pocket Mini Modem . $139

* All modems come with Bitcom software

Printers

Star Micronix NX 1000 9 pin.

.$199

Star Micronix NB-24-10 24 pin.

.$493

Epson FX1050 .

.$595

HP Laser Jet.

.$1815

Products for PS/2

RAM 4000 (EMS) card OK.

.$399

60MB Tape backup internal .

.$1095

60MB Tape backup external.

,.$1285

120MB Tape backup external.

..$1595

PS/2 modem 2400 baud internal ..

..$299

Others

80287-8 .

..$230

80287-10 .

..$279

80387 .

..Call

Ram chips.

..Call

Logitech Mechanical mouse.

..$79

Optical mouse.

..$75

DOS 3.3.

..$95

To Order:

Continental USA, Hawaii, Alaska:

Call (415) 490-2201

In Canada Call PC Centre,

Call (416) 470-0560

International

Call (415) 683-6623

Customer Support &

Technical Hotline

Call (415) 683-6580

Corporate, University and
Government P.O/s Welcome

All prices are subject to change and quantities may be
limited. We reserve the right to substitute equivalent items.

OS/2, MS DOS Unix, IBM PS/2, PC, XT, AT, Bitcom, Star
Micronix NX-1000, NL24-10, Epson FX-1050, HP Laser Jet,
Logitech Mechanical Mouse, Intel, VGA, EGA are the
trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective
companies

CLUB V v. 1 8/23/88

American Technologies, Inc.

5401 W. Warren Avc.. Fremont CA 94539

Circle 51 on Reader Service Card

WHAT’S NEW

Good Golly, It’s
Molly

D o you need historical
stock market informa¬
tion? Do you not want to
bother with the time and ex¬
pense of tracking it down
through an on-line database?
Molly can help. Molly is a
historical financial database
that contains about 100,000
prices—about 3 megabytes of
information.

Molly consists of disks
with data in Lotus WK1 for¬
mat for the IBM PC, or
Microsoft Excel format for the
Macintosh.

It includes the Dow Jones
Industrial Average daily close
since 1920; the S&P 500
Composite Index daily close
since 1928; the S&P price/
earnings ratio and yield on a
daily basis since 1940; the
Dow Jones transportation and
utility averages since 1970;
short-term interest rates on a
weekly basis since 1970; and
intermediate, long-term, and
Eurodollar weekly interest
rates since 1977. There’s also
the Nikkei Index, the Value
Line Index, the S&P 100 Com¬
posite Index, advancing and
declining issues on the New
York Stock Exchange, and
the NYSE advancing and de¬
clining volume.

Molly runs on the IBM PC
and compatibles with 384K
bytes of RAM or on the Mac¬
intosh. You’ll also need Lotus
1-2-3 for the IBM PC and
Excel for the Mac. You can
order monthly or quarterly
updates for an annual fee.
Price: $199.95; monthly up¬
dates, $79.95; quarterly up¬
date, $49.95.

Contact: MarketBase, Inc.,
250 West 90thSt., Suite 12K,
New York, NY 10024, (800)
627-5385.

Inquiry 764.

SOFTWARE • BUSINESS

Ui-fHi .t urn u

BRISK: C:\123\DEHQ.REU g

Next Previous Typo Statistics iffifMgaggffl} Copy Overlay Reports Exit
X-flinlmm, X-Maxinun, Y-Hiuimm, Y-Maxinun, Zom

VOLUME HO ENTRY

Expected Results >199.970

@RISK does risk analysis and simulation.

@Risk

Reduces Risk

Q uestion: Which pro¬
gram (along with Lotus
1-2-3 and WordPerfect) is re¬
quired for all incoming stu¬
dents at the Harvard Business
School? Answer: ©Risk (pro¬
nounced “at risk”), a Lotus
1-2-3 add-in designed for risk
analysis and simulation
modeling.

@Risk is designed for situ¬
ations where there is uncer¬
tainty in the values you enter
in your spreadsheet. The pro¬
gram handles uncertainty by
letting you enter a range of
values. It then uses probabil¬
ity distributions and simulation
techniques to evaluate the sit¬
uation. @Risk uses Monte
Carlo-type simulations,
where uncertain cell values are
varied across the probability
distribution. Each simulation
calculates hundreds or thou¬
sands of what-if scenarios, and
then the program tells you
the probability of each out¬
come occurring.

The output from @Risk’s
calculations is displayed graph¬
ically as probability distribu¬
tions by ©RiskGraph’s high-
resolution graphics routines.
You can display the output in a
variety of formats, including
histograms, cumulative
curves, summaries over
ranges of cells, or overlays. All

graphics outputs are in a
standard .PIC format. ©Risk
supports VGA, EGA, CGA,
and Hercules graphics. It
comes with a 30-day money-
back guarantee.

Price: $395.

Contact: Palisade Corp.,
2189 Elmira Rd., Newfield,
NY 14867, (607) 564-9993.

Inquiry 763.

PackRat Mobilizes
Personal Information

P olaris calls PackRat a
personal information
manager and says it’s a direct
competitor to Lotus’ recently
shipped Agenda. PackRat is
described as a text and graph¬
ics database that lets you
enter free-form data.

PackRat runs under
Microsoft Windows, and the
company says Windows’ in¬
terface and mouse support
make PackRat particularly
easy to use. For example, you
can simply point to a date on
a Windows calendar instead of
having to type in something
like “the day after tomorrow.”

PackRat consists of several
facilities, including a phone
book, phone log, expense
log, calendar, agenda, task
list, index cards, and disk log
file. Each of the facilities
has its own local database,
but depending on how you

store it, the same information
can be displayed on more than
one list.

The package also has a
tickler function that lets you
enter reminders. PackRat can
give you a full range of reports
that you can select and sort in
a variety of ways. The program
runs on any system that runs
Microsoft Windows.

Price: $395.

Contact: Polaris Software,

613 West Valley Pkwy., Suite
323, Escondido, CA 92025,
(619) 743-7800.

Inquiry 765.

TaxCalc Plans
Your Taxes

W orried about the impli¬
cations of tax reform on
your personal or business
nest egg? TaxCalc can help.
TaxCalc Multi-Year Tax
Planner is the latest incarna¬
tion of the company’s popu¬
lar spreadsheettemplate. Now
it’s also available as a stand¬
alone run-time version.

The program gives you 3-
year tax analysis through
1990, multiple alternative
analysis of the same year, the
ability to put up to 12 calcu¬
lations on-screen at one time,
and separate schedules for
detail input. TaxCalc also cal¬
culates a special report that
follows IRS Form 8582, which
allocates unused passive
losses and activities.

The template version of the
program works with all popu¬
lar spreadsheets, including
Lotus 1-2-3, SuperCalc, and
PC-Excel. It’s also available
for Excel on the Macintosh. If
you have a previous version
of TaxCalc, you can update to
the new version for $150.

Price: $395.

Contact: TaxCalc Software,
Inc., 4210 West Vickery Blvd.,
Fort Worth, TX 76107, (800)
527-2669; in Texas, (817)
738-3122.

Inquiry 767.

continued

84 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

See us at COMDEX
Cashman A348

"TOPSPEED EAXNS A

NDING OVATION."

— Kent Porter, Dr. Dobbs Journal

'... TopSpeed is surely one of the
finest new products introduced to
date in the PC arena...DDJ doesn 7
give unqualified raves very often,
but there’s no question about it in
this case; JPI's TopSpeed Modula-2
is first-rate’.’

Kent Porter
Dr. Dobbs Journal

'JPI Modula-2 looks like another
classic in the making. It generates
code as good as or better than lead¬
ing C compilers and the program¬
ming environment is a genuine
pleasure to usel’

Dick Pountain
BYTE Magazine

The successor of Pascal: JPI TopSpeed IM Modula-2 produces
better code than Microsoft C, Turbo C, Logitech Modula-2
and Turbo Pascal 4.0.

Introducing VID: The easy-to-use, source-level debugger.
Single-step and trace through source in multiple modules.
Examine and modify all variables in symbolic form, includ¬
ing arrays, records, enumerated types and pointers. Point
and shoot breakpoints including “One-shot’,’ “Sticky’,’ “De¬
layed’,’ and “Monitor!’ Watch both variables and Modula-2
expressions during execution. Automatic variable trace of all
variables accessed, and assembler, registers and procedure
call-stack trace windows. Package includes symbolic dis¬
assembler and execution profiler. 72-page manual.

7 liked all of the hard-disk space
that was recovered after I deleted
my BORLAND, MICROSOFT, and
LOGITECH compilers, because
with TopSpeed Modula-2 all the rest
are obsolete’.'

Robert D. Randall
Donnelley Marketing

In England and Europe contact:

Jensen & Partners UK Ltd.. 63 Clerkenwell
Road. London ECIM 5NP. Phone: (01)253-4333.
Compiler Kit: £59.95, TechKit £34.95, VID
£34.95. 3-Pack £109.95.

Handling charges:

In UK. add £2 for each product ordered. VAT
will be added on software. In Europe, add £4 for
up to 3 products, £2 for each add’I product.

The Compiler Kit includes: High-speed optimizing compiler (3,000-5,000
lines/min. on a PC AT 8MHz), integrated menu-driven environment with
multi-window/multi-file editor, automatic make, fast smart linker. All
Modula-2 sources to libraries included. BONUS: Complete high-speed win¬
dow management module included with source. 258-page User’s Manual
and 190-page Language Tutorial.

The TechKit'" includes: Assembler source for start-up code and run-time library,
JPI TopSpeed Assembler (30,000 lines/min.), TSR module, communica¬
tions driver, PROM locator, dynamic overlays, and technical information.
72-page manual.

System Requirements: IBM PC or compatible, 384K available RAM, two
floppy drives (hard disk recommended).

Circle 130 on Reader Service Card

Seamlessly integrated OS/2
version coming soon.

VID (Visual Interactive Debugger):
power without complexity'.

Sieve benchmark measured by the
British Standards Institution (BSI)—
25 iterations on an 8MH~ AT.

Compiler Kit $99.95
TechKit $59.95
VID $59.95

3-Pack $179.95

(Compiler, TechKit & VID)

To Order:

In the US, call:

1-800-543-5202

In Canada, call:

1-800-543-8452

Or mail us your order with
a check, money order, or
VISA/MC information. 30-
day unconditional money-
back guarantee.

Shipping & handling charges:

In North America: add $5, plus $2
for each add’l product. CA residents
please add applicable sales tax.
Overseas: add $20, plus $8 for each
add’l product.

Jensen &

Partners

International

1101 San Antonio Rd.

Suite 301

Mountain View, CA 94043
Phone: (415)967-3200

TopSpeed and TechKit are trademarks of Jensen
& Partners International. Other brand and
product names are trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective holders.

WHAT’S NEW

SOFTWARE • CONNECTIVITY

uopen 1,2,5,9,78

at B,2 "Connuuicatioits ports: " get wports len 43

at 1,2 " Ports' OpenWEI node: " get vdeupx len 16

at 1,35 "Cenpty if ports on this nachine)"
at 2,2 " Port lockfile: " get olockf len 48
setuar j 3

at j,2 " Baud Rate: " get vtaud len 5 list ‘'380", "1208",

,, 24e8'7 , 4888'Y'9688 , 7'l9288 , 7 , 3ar
at j+1,2 " Parity: " get vparity list ‘'NONE'

at j*2,2 " Uordlength: " get vuord list "8'*,"5",

at j*3,2 " Stopbits: u get obits list 'TY'2 M

at read
uclose 1
do Gquote wports
do 8quote vlockf

TERM has a powerful script language.

A Communications

Program

for All Systems

I f you have different com¬
puters running under differ¬
ent operating systems and
want a consistent user interface
for communications, a pro¬
gram called Term could be just
the ticket. The program runs
identically under Unix, Xenix,
MS-DOS, VMS, and BTOS.
Term’s developer, Century
Software, claims it is key-
stroke-for-keystroke-compat-
ible with more than 50 com¬
puter systems, ranging from
micros to superminis.

Term emulates the VT-
100, VT-102, VT-52, Tele-
Video 925 and 912, WY-50,
ANSI 3.64, and Teletypewriter
for every terminal attached
to a system. It also has a pro¬
prietary file-transfer protocol
called TermCRC (Term cycli¬
cal redundancy check) that
lets you do file transfers at up
to 115.2K bits per second. It
supports XMODEM, Kermit,
Modem7, ASCII, Binary,
XON/XOFF, ETX/ACK, and
line-by-line protocols.

The program uses Lempel-
Ziv Welch data compression,
which the company claims
results in an average 45 percent
to 50 percent speed improve¬
ment in file-transfer times.
Term automatically converts
text-file formats when you’re
transferring files between
different operating systems.

Term includes a full-fea¬
tured script language that you
can use to build full-screen
data-entry forms, mail gate¬
ways, and completely auto¬
mated remote communications
sessions. It’s shipped with 35
prebuilt script applications.
Price: Single-user version,
$195; multiuser version, $350.
Contact: Century Software,
5284 South 320 W, Suite
C294, Salt Lake City, UT
84107,(801)268-3088.
Inquiry 769.

Manage Files with
the Bridge

W hite Crane Systems’
newest version of its
Brooklyn Bridge system-to-
system file-transfer package
has a number of new fea¬
tures, including a dual-direc¬
tory display, a file manager,
and special DOS utilities. It
runs on all MS-DOS-compat¬
ible systems and transfers data
at up to 115,200 bps.

Using installable device
drivers, Brooklyn Bridge 2.0
lets you quickly transfer indi¬
vidual files or groups of files
with direct commands. But
like its competitors—such as
LapLink—the new version
also has a dual-directory
display that lets you see the
directories of both machines at
once. You use the dual direc¬
tory along with a 1-2-3-like
menu to choose your transfer
options.

The new version also has
several DOS utilities, such as
BACKUP, that copy only files
that have been created or
changed since the last time
you used Brooklyn Bridge.
There’s also MOVE, which de¬
letes the original file once
it’s transferred; COPY, which
lets you work with multiple
files using a single com¬
mand; and REMOVE, which has

a security option that en¬
sures that deleted files are
unrecoverable.

Brooklyn Bridge 2.0 lets
you share hard disks and
peripherals between two sys¬
tems. It has a RUN command
that gives you multiprocess¬
ing by letting you run pro¬
grams on a slave system at
the same time you’re doing
something else with the mas¬
ter. The program comes with
both 3 V^-inch and 5 l A -inch
disks, along with an 8-foot
universal serial cable. A 50-
foot cable is also available.
Price: $139.95; upgrade
from previous version, $35.
Contact: White Crane Sys¬
tems, Inc., 6889 Peachtree In¬
dustrial Blvd., Suite 151,
Norcross, GA 30092, (404)
394-3119.

Inquiry 772.

NetWare Lands
the Mac

A long with MS-DOS and
OS/2, Novell’s NetWare
local area network (LAN)
software now supports the
Apple Macintosh. If you’re
using your Mac in an Apple-
Share network, NetWare’s
newest version lets you be fully
compatible. Because each
system continues to use its na¬
tive operating system, Macin¬
tosh, IBM PC, and PS/2 users
can continue to see and use

the environment they’re most
comfortable with, while
sharing files and data across
the network without the need
for conversion.

Designed for use with
NetWare version 2.15 or high¬
er, NetWare for the Macin¬
tosh gives you the fault toler¬
ance, security, and high
performance of Novell’s net¬
work and lets you use a
lower-cost IBM-compatible file
server. Macs use the stan¬
dard AppleShare client soft¬
ware to access the NetWare
file server. NetWare provides
full support of AppleTalk
protocols within the server.
Price: $200.

Contact: Novell, Inc., 122
East 1700 S, Provo, UT
84601,(800)526-5463;in
Utah, (801) 379-5900.

Inquiry 770.

Carbon Copy Now
Handles Graphics

C arbon Copy Plus, a re¬
mote-control communica¬
tions package for the IBM PC
and compatibles, is now avail¬
able in version 5.0. This
newest version adds back¬
ground file transfer and a
universal graphics translator.

The background file-trans¬
fer feature lets you transmit a
file to another Carbon Copy-
equipped computer without in¬
terrupting the application
you’re working on. With the
universal graphics translator,
the program supports EGA,
VGA, Hercules, CGA, and
extended CGA cards. All of
these are interchangeable,
which lets you and the Carbon
Copy user on the other end
see and interact with the same
graphical screen image.

Price: $195; upgrade from
previous version, $50.

Contact: Meridian Technol¬
ogy, Inc., 1140 Hammond
Dr., Suite A-1125, Atlanta,

GA 30328, (404) 390-9152.
Inquiry 771.

continued

86 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

ONCE IN A BLUE MOON. ..COME

SCANMan:HANDHELD SCANNING FOR $299. m

Pop any image up to 4"x 11" straight into your PC.

Clip it. crop it, color it. Resize and rotate it. Merge, save,
and store it.

Choose between high contrast or high detail. Import
images into any bestselling publishing application-
PageMaker:Ventura m and many more. All you need is $299,
an IBM PC, XT, AT or PS/2 (or compatible) with a spare slot,
and five minutes to set up.

Q KYWATCHh P

g KYWATCHE R

^ KYWATCHl P

m'OiwolnABiiieMooit'

ItsAHoteflBWiKnon

C KYWATCHI P

TO ORDER-or for the name of your nearest dealer-
CALL: 800-231-7717, IN CALIFORNIA CALL:
800-552-8885.

Or fill in the coupon: E

Name . ...

Address.

City/State/Zip.

Phone _ _ _

Send to: LOGITECH, 6505 Kaiser Drive, Fremont, CA 94555

The Hand-Held Scanner

ffl LOGITECH

Personal Peripherals. Worldwide.

Circle 148 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 149)

mE OF GENIU

WHAT’S NEW

SOFTWARE • OTHER

Microsoft Takes
You for a Ride

F our years in the making,
Microsoft’s long-awaited
update to its popular Flight
Simulator is ready for takeoff.
Version 3.0 has many new
features, including the ability
to run on high-speed AT
clones and support full 640- by
350-pixel, 16-color EGA and
VGA displays.

Besides the old familiar
Cessna 182 and Sopwith
Camel, you can now add
more than a little spice to the
experience with a Gates Lear
Jet and a Crop Duster. Flight
Simulator 3.0 now uses pull¬
down windows to control navi¬
gation and communications,
flight analysis, environmental
conditions, and flight
scenarios.

There’s also a new learn¬
ing mode that gives you basic
and advanced flight training,
aerobatics, and navigation in¬
struction. These are prere¬
corded flight sessions designed
for pilots from beginner’s
rank all the way to advanced.

A flight analysis package
tells you how well you’ve
done.

If you’re the adventurous
sort, you can try a night land¬
ing on an aircraft carrier, the
ultimate test of flying skill.

You can also fly together
with other Flight Simulator 3.0
users through a null modem
cable or through telephone
lines.

Flight Simulator 3.0 runs
on the IBM PC, XT, AT,

PS/2s, and 100 percent com¬
patibles. You’ll need at least
256K bytes of RAM, DOS
2.0 or higher, and a CGA,
EGA, VGA, or Hercules
adapter.

Price: $49.95.

Contact: Microsoft Corp.,
16011 Northeast 36th Way,
P.O. Box 97017, Redmond,

WA 98073, (206) 882-8080.
Inquiry 775.

Forge a Few
Fantastic Fonts

V ersion 1.1 of Z-Soft’s
Publisher’s Type Found¬
ry includes numerous new
features that make electronic
publishing packages faster
and easier to use. The package,
which runs under Microsoft
Windows, lets you design and
modify type fonts for laser
printers.

The biggest new feature is

a Windows screen font transla¬
tor. This lets you see the
final version of the font you’ve
designed on-screen, as well
as use it in other applications.
Other new features include a
virtual memory manager for
handling large and complex
images without performance
degradation; data compres¬
sion; and an editor that lets you
set character height and
width guidelines. This makes
it easier to create uniform¬
looking fonts.

Version 1.1 now includes

Describe Files with Words

E ver run into situations
where those eight-char¬
acter-plus-extension DOS
filenames become incom¬
prehensible gibberish in a
few weeks? Would you re¬
member what you meant by
SAPM4755.TXT or APP-
2REV.WK1? Extend-A-
Name can help. It lets you
use filenames or descrip¬
tions that are up to 60 charac¬
ters long.

Extend-A-Name is RAM-
resident and uses from 39K
bytes to 65K bytes of mem¬
ory. If you have LIM version
4.0 expanded memory, the
program takes only 3K bytes
in your base RAM. The pro¬
gram continually scans the
screen for your application
program’s load prompt. It

then pops up with a library
screen where you can choose
a previously created file or
make a new one.

The program lets you
create libraries, which are
logical divisions of subdirec¬
tories. They let you further
organize your files. Extend-
A-Name also has a number
of additional features, in¬
cluding copy, delete, assign,
rename, tag, and untag. You
can perform all these func¬
tions without having to leave
your application.

Price: $79.95.

Contact: World Software
Corp., 124 Prospect St.,
Ridgewood, NJ 07450,
(800) 962-6360; in New Jer¬
sey, (201) 444-3228.
Inquiry 778.

full support for the Hewlett-
Packard LaserJet II, includ¬
ing both portrait and landscape
modes. A DOS utility is in¬
cluded that lets you download
your fonts to HP printers
without having to use
Windows.

Finally, the new version of
Publisher’s Type Foundry in¬
cludes several new bit-map
and outline fonts. Best of all, if
you’re a registered owner of
the current version, you can get
the new version gratis.

Price: $495.

Contact: Z-Soft Corp., 450
Franklin Rd., Suite 100,
Marietta, GA 30067, (404)
428-0008.

Inquiry 776.

On Cue Fights
Window Buildup

I f you’re one of those Mac¬
intosh users who keeps
switching from application to
application, having to return to
the Finder (or MultiFinder)
every time can be a pain. It can
also result in “window build¬
up” of numerous stacked win¬
dows on your Mac desktop.

A new program called On Cue
claims to solve all these
problems.

On Cue gives you a pull¬
down menu that shows your
most frequently used applica¬
tions. You can move among
them simply by clicking on
the application you want to
use. You won’t have to move
between overlapping windows
on the desktop or wait for
folders to open and close.

The program works with
all Macs from the 512KE on
up. It’s easy to configure to
your specific needs, and in¬
stallation is a simple matter
of dragging On Cue’s icon to
your system folder.

Price: $59.95.

Contact: ICOM Simulations,
Inc., 648 South Wheeling Rd.,
Wheeling, IL 60090, (312)
520-4440.

Inquiry 777.

88 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

¥TE

PERFECT Gift

REWARD THE COMPUTER ENTHUSIASTS ON YOUR GIFT LIST WITH A YEAR’S
SUBSCRIPTION TO BYTE - THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO PERSONAL COMPUTING.

EACH GIFT WILL INCLUDE 12 ISSUES, PLUS A BONUS ISSUE DEDICATED TO IBM
PC’S. YOUR FIRST GIFT WILL COST ONLY $22.95 WITH ADDITIONAL GIFTS
COSTING EVEN LESS; ONLY $19.95 EACH - BOTH GREAT MONEY SAVING RATES
WHEN YOU CONSIDER THAT ONE YEAR OF BYTE PURCHASED AT THE
NEWSSTAND WOULD COST $42! (CANADA: FIRST GIFT $25.95, ADDITIONAL
GIFTS $22.95 EACH.)

DON’T GET CAUGHT IN THE HOLIDAY RUSH, SEND US YOUR GIFT LIST TODAY

AND WE LL DO THE REST.

YES! I want to send gift
subscriptions to the following
people and save money v/jj
off the newsstand price! |jn||

TO: (1st Gift-$22.95: Canada $25.95) 1800029

Name

Address

City/State/Zip

(Each additional gift-$i9.95; Canada $22.95 each)

Name

FROM:

Nome

Address

/iLtLt/ LJJ -

j tyj/ C//7 to/7in

Address

L l iy/OL LLL

□ Payment enclosed' □ Bill me

□ Charge to: □ VISA □ MasterCard

Acer # Exp. date

City/State/Zip

Name

Address

City/State/Zip

Name

Signature

* Please send this order card with payment in an
envelope to: P.O. Box 550, Hightstown, NJ 08520-9893

FREE BONUS - A gift announcement will Address

be sent in your name to the recipient.

Please allow 6-8 weeks for processing. City/State/Zip

VTE

PERFECT Gift

REWARD THE COMPUTER ENTHUSIASTS ON YOUR GIFT LIST WITH A YEAR’S
SUBSCRIPTION TO BYTE - THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO PERSONAL COMPUTING.

DON’T GET CAUGHT IN THE HOLIDAY RUSH, SEND US YOUR GIFT LIST TODAY
AND WE’LL DO THE REST.

BUSINESS REPLY MAIL

FIRST CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO. 42 HIGHTSTOWN, NJ
POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE

EVTE

Computers and Communications Information Group

P.O, Box 550

Hightstown, NJ 08520-9893

NO POSTAGE
NECESSARY
IF MAILED
IN THE

UNITED STATES

Com-lbk Oata Systems,

Ine.

MODEL IQ 80286—THE WISE CHOICE

POWERFUL Performance at a practical price is what
you will get with COM-TEK’s SUPER TURBO A/T.

POWERFUL Performance at a practical
price is what you will get with COM-TEK’s

BACK TO SCHOOL SPECIAL
MODEL IQ-8088 SYSTEM

10 mhz Mother Board—256K Ram
(2) 360K Floppy Drives
Mono Monitor—84 Keyboard
Multi-I/O—Phoenix Bios
Parallel, Serial, Game Ports

$700 00

SUPER TURBO X/T.

Configured to your specifications at a
very reasonable price, our X/T is built to
suit your every need.

$895

HARDWARE PRICES

The Personal Computer that will run away with you.
Home or Office.

Complete System Includes

* LS-A804 All in One Multi Main Board
Selectable CPU speed of 4.77/10 Mhz

Complete W/Multi I/O + MCGP-Mono+Graphics Card

RS-232 Serial adapter, Parallel printer adapter

Game Port adapter/360 Kbyte Floppy adapter

Microsoft Bus versionmouse adapter

Real Time Clock/Calendar

CPU 8088-1/512 Memory Expandable to 640KB

Award or Phoenix Bios Included

Keyboard Lock, Power LED/Turbo Mode LED

* 150 watt power supply/ X/T Slide case

* 20 Meg Seagate Hard Disk/ 360K Floppy Disk

* Keyboard 84 Key/ Packard Bell 12" Monochrome Monitor
** Printers Optional**

*** FREE Word Processing Software...

20 Meg with Controller Card.$275.00

40 Meg with Controller Card.$425.00

80 Meg with Controller Card.$775.00

360K Floppy Drive.$ 80.00

1.2 Floppy Drive.$115.00

35 Floppy Drive.$120.00

1.44 Floppy Drive.$130.00

Mono Card.$ 49.00

EGA Mono Card.$142.00

CGA Color Card.$ 4800

EGA Color Card.$11200

VGA Color Card.CALL

Taxan 770 Multi Sync Monitor.$640.00

Packard Bell Mono Monitor.$ 85.00

Im-Tec Color Monitor .$24500

Casper Mono Monitor.$ 80.00

Relisys EGA Monitor. $43500

NEC Multi Sync II VGA.$640.00

Taxan EGA Monitor .$475.00

AT Controller Card.$142.00

XT Controller Card.$12400

Floppy Disk Controller Card.$ 18.00

XT Multi I/O Card.$ 58.00

XT Pre-bullt 3 In 1 Motherboard.$235.00

XT Pre-bullt Motherboard.$185.00

AT 80286 Pre-built Motherboard $48500

AT 80386 Pre-built Motherboard.$189500

AT 80286 Baby Pre-built M/B .$49500

84 Keyboard.$ 4800

101 Enhanced Keyboard .$ 65.00

8088-10 MHZ 3 In 1 Motherboard $145.00

8088-10 MHZ Motherboard.$120.00

80286-125 MHZ Motherboard $342.00

80286 Baby 125 MHZ Motherboard.$338.00

80386-16 MHZ Motherboard with 1 Meg.$1625.00

STANDARD A/T MODEL IQ-80286

SPECIFICATIONS

MOTHERBOARD: Intel 80286 microprocessor key selectable

normal (8.0 mhz) and turbo (12.5 mhz)
processing speeds, socketed for the
80287 math coprocessor, eight expansion
slots (2 eight bit—6 sixteen bit), clock-
cal, 1 meg. RAM included. Multi I/O and
Phoenix or Award Bios included.

Configured to your specifica¬
tions at a very reasonable
price, our A/T is built to suit
your every need.

YOUR PRICE

POWER:

200 watt, switching power supply with
leads for 4 devices.

DISKS:

(1) 1.2 meg, half height, dual sided-
quad density floppy drive. (1) 40
megabyte, half height, fixed disk drive.
40MS access time.

CABINET:

Full size AT style drawer cabinet with cor¬
porate security lock panel mounted reset
switch, and status LEDs for turbo, power
and fixed disk.

KEYBOARD:

Enhanced style, 101 keys with LEDs to
indicate NUM locks and CAPS lock
status, separate cursor pad, numeric
touch pad, top mounted function keys.

DISPLAY SET:

Hi-res, text and graphics, monochrome
card (Here, compat.) hi-res, TTL amber
monochrome monitor. 1 parallel port.

WARRANTY:

1 year on parts and labor limited depot
warranty. 30 day money back guarantee
if not satisfied with out product, for any
reason.

*OPTIONS AVAILABLE

$1695.00

POWERFUL Perfor-
mance at a practical
price is what you will
get with COM-TEK’s
SUPER TURBO A/T.
Configured to your
specifications at a very
reasonable price, our
A/T is built to suit your
every need.

MODEL IQ 80286-
THE WISE CHOICE

XTIAJ Slide Case $ 34.00

AT Baby Case $ 5800

AT Slide Case S 6500

AT Tower Case.$28500

Baby AT 200 Watt Power Supply.$ 72.00

150 Watt Power Supply $ 48.00

200 Watt Power Supply.$ 68.00

40 Meg Tape Backup System $34900

MS-DOS 33 GW/BASIC .$120.00

1200 Modem.$ 95.00

2400 Modem .$235.00

Printers

. 'CALL

POWERFUL Performance at a practical price is
what you will get with COM-TEK’s SUPER TURBO
IQ 80386. Configured to your specifications at a
very reasonable price, our IQ 80386 is built to suit
your every need.

MODEL IQ 80386—THE SUPER WISE CHOICE!

$3295

SPECIFICATIONS

MOTHERBOARD:

POWER:

DISKS:

CABINET:

KEYBOARD:

DISPLAY UNIT:
WARRANTY:

STANDARD A/T MODEL IQ-80386

Intel 80386 microprocessor, user selectable (4.77, 8.0 and 16.0
mhz) upgradeable to 20 mhz. Processing speeds, socketed
lor the 80287 math coprocessor, eight expansion slots (2 eight
bit, 5 sixteen bit. and 1 thirty-two bit), clock-cal, 2 meg. RAM
included, upgradeable to 8 meg. Includes Phoenix or Award
Bios and Multi-I/O card.

200 watt, switching power supply with leads lor 4 devices.

(1) 1.2 meg, hall height, dual sided—quad density floppy drive and
1.44 floppy.

(1) 80 megabyie, lull height, fixed disk drive. Seagate.

Full size AT style drawer cabinet with corporate security lock
panel mounted reset switch, and status LEDs lor turbo power
and fixed disk.

Enhanced style. 101 keys with LEDs to indicate NUM lock
and CAPS lock status, separate cursor pad, numeric touch
pad, top mounted function keys.

Hkes, text and graphics, monochrome card (Here, compat.)
hi-res, TTL amber monoerhome monitor, 1 parallel port.

1 year on parts and labor limited depot warranty. 30 day money
back guarantee il not satisfied with our product lor any reason.

*OPTIONS AVAILABLE:
Color system (CGA)

EGA system
VGA system
Math co-pro A/T
Additional 1.2 dr.

360K floppy dr.

1.44 floppy

20 meg drive
40 meg drive
80 meg drive
35 floppy drive
MS-DOS 3.21
MS-DOS 33
Mouse

Award Bios
Multi I/O
1200 modem
2400 modem
Additional RAM
' Available in the tower case.
Call and ask for specifications.

o COM-TEK HAS DESIGNED THEIR POLICY TO BETTER
SERVE, HELP AND PROTECT THEIR CUSTOMERS.

• COM-TEK MAKES SURE ALL THEIR CUSTOMERS GET
1st PRIORITY IN SALES—SERVICE—CUSTOMER
RELATIONS

. COM-TEK’S FRIENDLY STAFF IS BETTER TRAINED TO
HELP AND SUPPORT YOU IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE
WITHOUT LEAVING YOU ON HOLD.

30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE FOR ANY REASON—NO QUESTIONS ASKED—1 YEAR ON PARTS AND LABOR—LIMITED DEPOT WARRANTY

SYSTEMS • SYSTEM OPTIONS • NETWORKING
CALL FOR SPECIFICATIONS

In N.H.: 603-363-8333 1-800-942-4255 Outside of N.H.

P.O. Box 221

Corner of 9 & 63, Chesterfield, N.H. 03443

Tech Support Call: 603-363-8334

Circle 510 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 • BYTE 88NE-1

REGIONAL

What’s New

METRO NEW YORK • NEW ENGLAND

Sales Prospect
Management

P rosell is a program de¬
signed for sales execu¬
tives who often work on the
road. It includes a calendar
and account management and
file capabilities, which are
cross-linked to provide auto¬
matic updates among sections.
The program also includes a
calculator, phone directory,
and import/export utilities.

Prosell’s prospect manage¬
ment system consists of a pros¬
pect worksheet with firm ad¬
dresses, contacts, phone
numbers, next step and target
date, automatic update, re¬
trieval of prospects from
multiple fields, and more.

With the prospect summary
report, you can sort by time or
by number of dollars ranking
and send the report to the
printer or to management by
electronic mail.

The file cabinet includes
eight documents: letter,
memo, quotation, order, ex¬
pense report, travel log, form-
letter library, and scratch
pad. You can retrieve the docu¬
ments by four categories:
date, document number, sub¬
ject, and prospect name.

You can also use Prosell to
make visual presentations on
your laptop, and you can
store up to 15 different presen¬
tations in your computer.
Prosell runs on the IBM

Send Us Your
Local News

B YTE is expanding its
coverage of local events
in the Northeast region. If
you would like your event,
seminars, conferences, or
local computer users group
covered, please send infor¬
mation to: Regional Editor,
BYTE, One Phoenix Mill
Lane, Peterborough, NH
03458.

PC, XT, AT, PS/2s, and com¬
patibles with 640K bytes of
RAM and DOS 3.0 or higher.
The manufacturer recom¬
mends at least 10 megabytes of
hard disk space.

Price: $795.

Contact: Lowell Corp., P.O.
Box 15053, Worcester, MA
01615,(508) 756-5103.

Inquiry 815.

Multimedia
Database for
CD-ROM Publishers

IBM PC, XT, AT, 80386-
based machines, and compat¬
ibles with 640K bytes of RAM,
a hard disk drive, and DOS
3.0 (DOS 3.2 if a CD-ROM
drive is attached) or higher.

It is compatible with EGA,
CGA, and Hercules cards
and Microsoft-compatible
mice.

Price: $750; CD-ROM pub¬
lishing utility, $5000.

Contact: Crowninshield
Software, Inc., 1105 Com¬
monwealth Ave., Boston,

MA 02134, (617) 787-8830.
Inquiry 814.

Classes for Building
MIDI Software

T wo musicians/pro¬
grammers are offering
a series of six weekly classes
on MIDI programming. The
classes start on October 3
and will cover the topics of
the MIDI specification; an
overview of librarians, edi¬
tors, mappers, sequencers,
and compositional pro¬
grams; converting data;
building a sequencer; and
more.

The classes will be taught
by Joe Ravo, a professional
musician who’s written
commercial MIDI pro¬
grams, and Charlie Miller, a
professional musician who’s
also the president of MU-
SIG, the New York City’s
MIDI user group. The class¬
es aren’t language-specific,
and you needn’t bring any
hardware or software.

Price: $250 for the series.
Contact: Charlie Miller,
362 West 52nd St., New
York, NY 10019, (212) 246-
7438.

M ediaBase is a DBMS
that lets you store and
combine text, bit-mapped
graphics, and audio and video
images for publication and
distribution on CD-ROM. With
an optional publishing util¬
ity, you can output a nine-track
tape in High Sierra format
and send it directly to a CD-
ROM stamping facility.

You can link analog video
images from a laserdisk player
to records in your database,
and when you query those
records, the video will play
automatically on a television
screen. You can also play and
control from the database one
or two of the soundtracks on
a laserdisk.

You can perform Boolean,
phrase, proximity, wild-card,
and, naturally, word search¬
es in the database.

MediaBase runs on the

Two Shows, One Roof

T he Jacob K. Javits Con- c
vention Center in New e
York City will be swarming
with engineers, technicians, f
and information specialists c
the second week of October a
as it hosts the Fall Design I
Engineering Conference v
and Info ’88, the Infor- c
mation Management Expo- v
sition. s

The engineering confer- r
ence is sponsored by the p
American Society of Me- a
chanical Engineers and will c
run from October 11 to 13. It a
will feature exhibits of A
CAD/CAM/CAE applica- C
tions, laboratory and pro- ti
duction test equipment, and f:
other engineering topics. B
The conference expects to 0

draw 6000 attendees and 275
exhibitors.

Info ’88, which will run
from October 11 to 14, is
dedicated to MIS executives
and Fortune 1000 end users.
Exhibitors will display soft¬
ware, peripherals and ac¬
cessories, local-area net¬
works, communications
systems, and computer secu¬
rity devices. The show ex¬
pects to draw 400 exhibitors
and 45,000 attendees. The
convention center is located
at West 36th St. and 11th
Ave., New York, NY.
Contact: Cahners Exposi¬
tion Group, Stamford Of¬
fice, 999 Summer St., P.O.
Box 3833, Stamford, CT
06905,(203) 964-0000.

88NE-2 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

If you’re still not sharing
your laser printer,

A laser printer is expensive.
That’s why it makes sense to
share it among more than one PC.

SmartPrint lets you do
just that. It connects up to
six PCs of any kind to any
laser printer.

Then, all six PCs can use
the same printer. SmartPrint
scans and “locks on” to
the right PC automatically.

No switches or A/B boxes
are needed.

A lit display lamp indicates which
PC is currently ‘ ‘connected.’ ’

After printing SmartPrint ‘ ‘locks
on’ ’ to the next PC sending
printer data.

SmartPrint requires no software
either, so it’s completely transparent

to the user and compatible with
virtually every application or
environment-even LAN systems.

And your laser printer can
be located as far as 1,000 feet
from your PCs because SmartPrint
has its own line driver and
power supply.

It’s easy to use, too. You can
install SmartPrint yourself in

See us at

cpfifrtDiM 71

November 14-18, 1988
Bally’s Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Booth #B-106

a few minutes using stan¬
dard serial cables.

The Price/Performance
Winner

SmartPrint costs only
$149, which makes it the
best buy in its class.
Guaranteed!

If you’re not completely
satisfied return SmartPrint
within 30 days for a full
refund.

SmartPrint is made in
the USA with quality electronic j
components and a rugged
metal casing. And it’s
backed with our full one-
year repair/replacement
warranty.

So call now and use
your Visa, MasterCard,
or AmerEx. And stop
hogging your
laser printer!

1 - 800 - 368-7737

(Anywhere in the United States or Canada)

'****'*»►

?oMPu , iE« e p«ooucTs 8560 VineyardAve., Suite 405, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730/(714) 945-5600 03 HH

Circle 516 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 • B Y T E 88NE-3

SUPER-286/12

80286 CPU 12 MHz/OWS
Small footprint
EGA card and Diamond
Scan monitor

— 1.44M 3 1/2” floppy drive
40MB HH Hard Disk

Spear’s Systems are becoming
landmarks in the computer industry.

$CALL

SPEAR’S 386/20

Elegant Tower Case
80386/20MHz, SI = 24
—— Fully compatible with IBM AT®

^ 1.2M High Capacity floppy drive
3 1/2” 1.44M floppy, drive of
the future
71MB Hard Disk

MONO-286/8

— 80286 CPU 8/6 MHz

— — Hercules Compatible Mono card
Monochrome monitor

EGA-286/8 $1620

_ 80286 CPU 8/6 MHz

— EGA monitor and EGA card
-- 20MB HH Hard Disk

PRO-286/10

— 80286 CPU 10 MHz/lWS
^ EGA card

Diamond Scan monitor

— AT 30 MB Hard Disk

MONO-286/12

— 80286 CPU 12 MHz/OWS

$2150

$1499

EGA-286/12

-- 80286 CPU 12 MHz/OWS
— Small footprint
—— EGA monitor and EGA card
-- 20MB HH Hard Disk

MONO-386

-- 80386-16 CPU

16/6 MHz/OWS Wait State
-- 64K SRAM Cache

— Mono monitor and card

EGA-386

80386-16 CPU

— EGA monitor and EGA card
20MB HH Hard Disk

$2151

$2050

$2540

BoTmiliTiTT/rif;

OTHER PRODUCTS:

^ Everex Modems

1200B Internal
2400B Internal
2400B External

Everex Tape Backup

40MB External
60MB Internal
125MB Internal
40MB Floppy Tape

Hard Disk

20MB (XT)

40MB (HH)

71MB

$620
$650
$1195
$399

$269

!!580

S865

XT MONO System (10MHz) $599

BRAND NAME LAPTOP

(640K, 2Drives) $1259

Graphic cards, EMS cards,
monitors, printers,

3 1/2” floppy drives, etc. CALL

— Small footprint to save space
— — Mono card

Monochrome monitor

* All systems come with 1.2MB floppy drive,
and FD/HD dual controller.

SERVER-386 $3295

-- 80386-16 CPU
— EGA card
—^ Diamond Scan monitor
71 MB Hard Disk

Call Spear Technology

(312) 480-7300

TECHNOLOGY INC.

710A Landwehr, Northbrook, IL 60062
Sales: (312) 480-7300
Tech Support (312) 480-7386
FAX: (312) 480-9538

Spear 03 VI.2 7/20/88

Attractive Discount for Dealers
and Quantity Buyers.

Special Discounts for Students
and Professors (ID required).

Everex, Hercules, IBM, AT, Diamond Scan, and OS/2 are trademarks
and registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Spear Technology, Inc. provides you with excellent quality
and services. If you are not satisfied for any reason please
call our president, Webster or V. P. Ahmed at (312)
480-7300. If you have any technical questions, our full¬
time technical support staff is there to answer them.

Terms: We accept MasterCard, Visa, COD (Cashier
check, cash, or approved check), Company/Institutional
P.O.. For returns and repairs, call for RMA number. A
15% restocking on all unauthorized returns item. No
credit issued after 30 days from date of shipment. Copies
of original sales order must accompany any return. Prices
are subject to change.

88NE-4 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Circle 521 on Reader Service Card

_.T__

n.Lik.31

INDEPENDENT STORE IN NYC DEDICATED
TO IBM ® PC SOFTWARE AND PERIPHERALS ONLY

If We Don’t Have It, It’s Probably Not Worth Having.

STORE HOURS: 9:00 A.M.-5:30 P.M. E.S.T. MON.-FRI.

SATURDAYS: 10:00 A.M.-4:00 P.M.

Terms, Conditions and Prices May Differ In Our Store.
CORPORATE ACCOUNTS WELCOMED.

PC LINK, CORP. 29 WEST 38TH STREET. 2ND FL., NEW YORK, NY 10018

CALL TOLL FREE 1-800-221-0343

FOR ORDERS ONLY _

All prices listed In this ad are effective Oct. 1-31,
1988. All Brands are Registered Trademarks.
IBM is a Registered Trademark of IBM Corp.

in new york CALL 1-212-730-8036

FOR ORDERS & INQUIRIES

THIS MONTH’S SPECIALS—OCTOBER 1 stthrough 31 st

IMAGEN.

PC PUBLISHER KIT. 1595.00

LOGITECH.

HiREZ MOUSE (Bus Version),

BITSTREAM.

85.00 FONTWARE Soft Fonts. 149.00

MICROSOFT.

MOUSE Serial or Bus Version..

99.00

BUSINESS SOFTWARE
ASHTON-TATE

dBASE III PLUS 1.1 . CALL

MULTIMATE ADVANTAGE II. CALL

BORLAND INT.

EUREKA. 99.00

ANSA PARADOX V 2.0. 439.00

PROLOG 1.1 . 69.00

SIDEKICK PLUS. 149.00

TURBO BASIC. 69.00

TURBO C. 69.00

TURBO PASCAL 4.0. 79.00

QUATTRO. 139.00

CLEAR SOFT. CLEAR (CHART dBASE CODE) CALL
CONCENTRIC DATA

R & R REPORT WRITER FOR DBASE 111+ 129.00

CROSSTALK COMMUNICATIONS

CROSSTALK MK.4. 129.00

CROSSTALK XVI 3.6. 85.00

REMOTE 2. 109.00

FOX SOFTWARE

FOX BASE PLUS V 2.1. 229.00

FOX BASE+ MULTIUSER. 379.00

GREAT PLAINS. ACCOUNTING PACKAGES CALL

JAVELIN SOFT. JAVELIN. 75.00

KORTEK. FREEWAY ADVANCED. 99.00

LIFETREE SOFT. VOLKSWRITER 3. 129.00

LOTUS DEV. CORP.

LOTUS 1-2-3(SOLD IN OUR STORE). 329.00

SYMPHONY (SOLD IN OUR STORE). 479.00

AGENDA (SOLD IN OUR STORE). 295.00

MECA. MANAGING YOUR MONEY 4.0. 139.00

MERIDIAN. CARBON COPY PLUS. 139.00

MICRO PRO

WORDSTAR 2000+ REL.3 . 249.00

WORDSTAR 2000+ REL.3 LEGAL VERSION CALL

WORDSTAR PROFESSIONAL REL.5. CALL

MICROSOFT

CHART V 3.0. 295.00

C COMPILER . 309.00

FORTRAN COMPILER . 309.00

MACROASSEMBLER. 119.00

EXCEL. 309.00

PROJECT. 349.00

QUICK BASIC. 69.00

QUICK C. 69.00

WINDOWS. 69.00

WINDOWS 386 . 145.00

WORD VERSION 4.0 . 239.00

WORKS. 109.00

MONOGRAM. DOLLARS & SENSE. 109.00

NANTUCKET. CLIPPER. 399.00

OWL INT. GUIDE 2.0. 159.00

QUARTERDECK. DESQ VIEW. 89.00

SBT. ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE (Sold in Store) CALL

SSC. SOFTWARE BRIDGE. 129.00

STSC

APL*PLUS V 7.0. 649.00

STATGRAPHICS. 649.00

SOPHCO

PROTEC (HARD DISK PROTECTION). 185.00

SOFTWARE GROUP. ENABLE V 2.0 . 399.00

SOFTWARE PUBLISHING

HARVARD TOTAL PROJECT MANAGERII 369.00

P.F.S. GRAPH/PLAN.ea. 89.00

FIRST CHOICE. 75.00

PROFESSIONAL FILE/PLAN.ea. 159.00

PROFESSIONAL WRITE. 139.00

SYMANTEC. Q&A 3.0. 259.00

WALLSOFT

THE Ul PROGRAMMER. 199.00

THE DOCUMENTOR. 199.00

WORDPERFECT CORP

WORDPERFECT V 5.0. CALL

WORDTECHSYSTEMS

D B X L. 99.00

QUICK SILVER DIAMOND. 369.00

XYQUEST. XY WRITE III +. 399.00

GRAPHIC & DESKTOP PUBLISHING

ALDUS. PAGE MAKER. CALL

ASHTONTATE

CHART/DIAGRAM/SIGN MASTER. CALL

BRIGHTBILL-ROBERTS

SHOW PARTNER. 79.00

SHOW PARTNER F/X. 279.00

DIGITAL. GEM DRAW PLUS. 175.00

LOTUS DEV. FREE LANCE+(Sold In Store) 359.00

MICROGRAFX. WINDOWS DRAW. 229.00

SOFTWARE PUBLISHING

HARVARD PRESENTATION GRAPHICS... 295.00

XEROX. VENTURA (NEW) VERSION 2.0 .. CALL

Z SOFT. PC PAINTBRUSH +. 99.00

Z SOFT. PUBLISHER PAINTBRUSH. 179.00

UTILITIES

CORE INT. CORE FAST. 119.00

EXECUSYSTEMS.XTREE PRO. 79.00

FIFTH GENERATION. FAST BACK+. 129.00

FUNK SOFT. SIDEWAYS 3.2. 59.00

MICROLYTICS. GOFER. 49.00

MICROSOFT. LEARNING DOS. 39.00

NORTON. UTILITIES V 4.0. 59.00

NORTON. UTILITIES ADVANCED 4.0. 99.00

REVOLUTION.CRUISE CONTROL. 29.00

QUALITAS. 386 TO MAX. 59.00

SOFT CRAFT. FANCY FONT. 149.00

SOFT CRAFT. LASER FONT. 149.00

TRAVELING SOFT. LAP-LINK . 89.00

GRAPH!CTABLETS t KEYBO ARDS,MICE

DATA DESK. TURBO KEYBOARD. 139.00

LOGITECH. HiREZ MOUSE (Bus Version) . 85.00

LOGITECH.C7 MOUSE+PC PAINTBRUSH 99.00

LOGITECH.C7 PUBLISHERS MOUSE. 119.00

MICROSOFT. SERIAL OR BUS MOUSE .... 99.00
MICROSOFT. MOUSE WITH WINDOWS ... 145.00
PRINTERS

BROTHER. M-1709 240 CPS PAR/SER. CALL

HEWLETT-PACKARD.LASERJET II. CALL

HEWLETT-PACKARD. DESKJET. CALL

OUTPUT TECH. OT-850XL 850 CPS. CALL

TOSHIBA. P351SX. 1095.00

TOSHIBA. P321SL. 495.00

HP LASER ACCESSORIES

BITSTREAM. FONTWARE (SOFT FONTS) . 149.00

HEWLETT-PACKARD

FONT CARTRIDGES

(A.C.D.E.G.H,).ea. 129.00

(B,F,J,K,L,M,N,P,Q,T,U,V,W,X,Y).ea. 219.00

(R.Z).ea. 295.00

SOFT FONTS.ea. 169.00

MEMORY FOR LASERJET II ONLY

1MB/2MB/4MB MEMORY BOARDS. CALL

IQ ENGINEERING. SUPER CARTRIDGE 599.00
IMAGEN. PC Publisher Kit adds DDL, HP-GL &
PostScript to HP LaserJet printers. Emulates
15 HP Cartridges, HP 7470/7475pen plotters.

Diablo 630, Epson MX-80/FX-80, & more.

Comes with 30 (1 to 254 point) Fonts, 2Mb Ram

PC Publisher Kit for HP LaserJet II. 1595.00

MONITORS

AMDEK. 1280 MONITOR. 739.00

AMDEK.410A MONITOR. 189.00

Elite Business. Design VIEW/19 (1280X1024)595.00

PGS. MAX-12 (MONO MONITOR). 189.00

PGS. ULTRASYNCH EGA MONITOR. 589.00

NEC. MULTISYNC II EGA. 689.00

SONY. C P D-1302/C PD-1303 MULTISCAN EGA CALL
WYSE.700 1280X800 HI RES. MONITOR.. 789.00
MODEMS

EVEREX. EVERCOM 1200 (Internal). 109.00

EVEREX. EVERCOM 2400 (Internal). 199.00

HAYES. SMARTMODEM 2400 . 499.00

HAYES. SMARTMODEM 1200. 299.00

HAYES. 1200B+SMARTCOM II. 299.00

HAYES. 2400B+SMARTCOM II. 499.00

MIGENT. 1200 POCKET MODEM. 139.00

MIDI PRODUCTS
MUSIC QUEST

MIDI Co-Processor Card. 139.00

Starter System+. 199.00

Starter System. 175.00

TWELVE TONE SYSTEMS

CakeWalk 2.0 Sequencer. 129.00

DISKDRIVES

I OMEGA. 20MB BETA II INT. DRIVE.

MINISCRIBE. 70MB HARD DISK FOR AT .
MINISCRIBE. 40MB HARD DISK FOR AT .

SEAGATE. ST-225 20MB WITH W/D.

SEAGATE. ST-251-1 40MB FOR AT.

SYSGEN.QIC FILE 60 EXT.BACKUP.

SYSGEN.BRIDGE FILE.

SYSGEN.BRIDGE TAPE.

TOSHIBA. 3 1/2" & 5 1/4’ Drives.

EXPANSION BOARDS

64K150NS RAM CHIPS.

256K 150NS RAM CHIPS.

AST. SIXPAK PREMIUM 0KB C/S/P.

DCA. IRMA BOARD II.

HERCULES. MONO GRAPHICS PLUS.

INTEL. ABOVE BOARD PS/286 512K.

TALL TREE. JRAM-3 OK (TO 2MB).

VIDEO 7. VEGA DELUXE.

VIDEO 7. VEGA VGA.

VIDEO 7. FAST WRITE VGA 8 or 16 Bit..
VIDEO 7. V-RAM VGA 8 or 16 Bit.

959.00

859.00

629.00

309.00

595.00

859.00

349.00

549.00

CALL

209.00

799.00

199.00

489.00

159.00

199.00

295.00

499.00

599.00

NETWORKING

INVISIBLE. NETWORK 200 . 299.00

SERVERTECHNOLOGY

EASYLAN STARTER KIT FOR 2 PC’S. 179.00

EASYLAN EXPANSION KIT FOR 1 PC’S... 99.00

SCANNERS & FACSIMILE

BROTHER. PERSONAL FAX-100. 975.00

DEST. PC SCANNERS. CALL

COMPUTERS
PC LINK

386A MODULE1. 16MHZ, 1MB 32 BIT RAM,

ONE 1.2MB DRIVE . 2195.00

386A MODULE11. 16MHZ, 1MB 32 BIT RAM,

ONE 1.2MB DRIVE, 40MB HARD DISK 2695.00
386A is a XT type chassis, can accommodate AT
size adapters.

386B MODULE 1. 16MHZ, 1MB 32 BIT RAM,

ONE 1.2MB DRIVE. 2295.00

386B MODULE11. 16MHZ, 1MB 32 BIT RAM,

ONE 1.2MB DRIVE, 40MB HARD DISK 2795.00
386-20 MODULE 1. 20MHZ, 1MB 32 BIT RAM,

ONE 1.2MB DRIVE. 2495.00

386-20 MODULE11. 20MHZ, 1MB 32 BIT RAM,
ONE 1.2MB DRIVE, 40MB HARD DISK 2995.00
386B & 386-20 are a AT type chassis.

STANDARD FEATURES FOR PC LINK 386.
CHASSIS CAN ACCOMMODATE UPTO FIVE
1/2 HEIGHT DEVISES (3 are accessible),
HARD/FLOPPY CONTROLLER WITH CABLES,

101 ENHANCED KEYBOARD, SERIAL/PARALLEL
PORTS, BATTERY BACK REALTIME CLOCK,
ONE YEAR WARRANTY.

TOSHIBA

T1000 512KB ONE 3 1/2" DRIVE 4.77MHz.. CALL
T1200 1MB 20MB HD. ONE 3 1/2" DRIVE .. CALL

T3100/20 640KB ONE 3 1/2", 20MB HD. CALL

T5100 2MB RAM ONE 3 1/2", 40MB HD .... CALL

WYSE

2112 1,2MB DRIVE 1 MB RAM 8/12 MHz CPU,

101-KEY KEYBOARD MS DOS 3.1 . CALL

PC 386 (16MHz) ZERO WAIT-STATES 1 MB
RAM,1.2MB DRIVE,KEYBOARD,MS DOS 3.2

« MODE,SERIAL/PARALLEL PORT.. CALL
AUGE COMPUTER WORKS.

80386-16MHz REPLACES IBM/XT MOTHER
BOARD. 1MB RAM, FIVE 8-BIT (2 SHORT),

2-16 BIT, 1-32 BIT SLOTS & SOCKET FOR 80387.
WORKS WITH MOST PRESENT HARDWARE
INCLUDING HARD/FLOPPY DISKS DRIVES &
KEYBOARD. OS/2,1-2-3 (V2.01), dBASE,
AUTOCAD,VENTURA, WINDOWS a OTHER
MAJOR SOFTWARE COMPATIBLE. 1495.00

THIS AD WAS PREPARED USING HPLJ II
VENTURA & IMAGEN PC PUBLISHER’S KIT

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

We reserve the right to repair, replace or return to manufacturer for repair, all goods acknowledged faulty or damaged on receipt by customer. Customer Must Call For
Return Authorization Number Before Returning Any Goods. Prompt attention will be given to all damaged and faulty returned goods. Any goods returned for credit are
subject to 20% restocking charge, plus shipping charge. No Returns For Credit On Any Software. Customer must deal directly with the manufacturer If the customer
finds any false claims made by tne manufacturer. All goods are shipped VIA U.P.S. ONLY. Shipping charges are 2% of the total purchase price or $3.00, whichever is
greater. Please call for shipping charges on Printers & Accessories. C.O.D. goods are shipped for Cash or Cashier's Check Only. Max $1500.00. Please allow 7 to 10 work¬
ing days for personal or corporate checks to clear. To expedite shipping send money order or cash ier's check, or charge to your VISA OR MASTERCARD. WE DO NOT
Add a Service Charge For Credit Card Usage. PRICES SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS.

Circle 520 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 • BYTE 88NE-5

Orders, Call Toll Free Tech Support & Information

1 - 800 - 888-2983 1 - 612 - 881-9197

Mailing Address: 9801 Dupont Ave. So, Suite 175 Bloomington, MN 55431

ORDER DESK & TECHNICAL SUPPORT OPEN: M-F 9a.m.-5(xm. CST

EVEREX

Model

3000A

16MHZ-386

•64 K Static RAM cache
•1 MB-100NS Dram
•1.2 MB Floppy
•Hard drive
floppy controller

$189540

EVEREX

Model

1700C

12MHZ-286

•1 MB 100NS Dram
•1.2 MB Floppy
•Hard drive
floppy controller

$129540

National On-site Warranty Service

EVEREX

Model

$86940

1800

8MHZ-286

•512 K RAM
•1.2 MB Floppy
•Hard drive
floppy controller

Available on ALL EVEREX Computers

LAPTOPS

Toshiba

T-1000 .Call

T-1200H .2349.00

T-3200 .3795.00

T-5100 .4829.00

NEC Multispeed

EL.1429.00

HD.2395.00

HARD DRIVES

MAXTOR

1140 140 MB.1595.00

2190 190MB.1695.00

4380 380MB.2495.00

MICROPOLIS

1333A 44MB.569.00

1335A 72MB.649.00

SEAGATE

ST-225 w/Controller, 20MB.269.00

ST-238 w/Controller, 30MB.289.00

ST-251 40MB.359.00

ST-4096 80MB .649.00

MEMORY EXPANSION

Everex RAM 3000 3MB EMS w/OK. 8900

RAM 10000 10MB EMS w/OK.129.00

Uses 1MB Chips

MATH COPROCESSORS

Intel .Call

PRINTERS

Citizen .Call

NEC LC-890 Laser .Call

Okidata 393 .929.00

Panasonic .Call

Toshiba. Call

MODEMS

Everex 1200B Int .75.00

Everex 2400 Bd Int.149.00

Everex EFAX Modem Ext.329.00

Okidata Okitel.Call

★ SPECIAL ★

Miniscribe 3675-65MB Hard Drive

w/Adaptec 2372 Controller.Call

SOFTWARE

25-60% Off Retail

TAPE BACKUPS

Everex 60MB Internal.679.00

Everex 60MB External .759.00

Mountain 40MB.379.00

POWER BACKUPS

Stedi Watt 450VA.479.00

Stedi Watt 750VA.599.00

MONITORS

Mitsubishi.Call

Sony.Call

NEC .Call

Evervision EGA .359.00

VIDEO CARDS

ATI .Call

Everex EGA.139.00

Paradise 480.159.00

Everex EVGA.269.00

WE WELCOME EDUCATION AND CORPORATE ACCOUNTS

88NE-6 BYTE- OCTOBER 1988

Circle 511 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 512)

56 All This for only $997»»

FAST MASTER" III

Corporate P.O.s
Government Agencies
Universities

/ WELCOME

CORTEX CORPORATION

1 - 800 - 458-1740

Tech Support 1-612-888-8693
9401 James Ave. S., Bloomington, MN 55431

XT Turbo Professional Model

56 Reasons why this is THE system you should buy!

Speeds 4.77 to 25 MHz

51 Standard or AT Jr. Case

52 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee 53 2 Year Limited Parts/Labor Warranty

54 48 Hour Burn-In Testing 55 FREE Utility Software

About CORTEX Corporation

When you're looking for Personal Computers, peripherals, accessories, or
supplies at the best price available ‘PLUS* the priceless support you just
can't get from the warehouse stores ... CORTEX is the place.

When you are tired of being "sold" something, we invite you to a refreshing
break. Contact us today. Our experienced staff is dedicated to consistency,
courtesy, and reliability. Our philosophy is to provide you with the product or
service that not only fits your budget, but also your requirements. We feel you
should get what you’re looking for without paying for unnecessary extras.

You must have VALUE. You deserve to be helped by a professional
organization instead of a professional salesperson. Our staff is made up of
computer professionals, engineers, and technicians who absolutely MUST
help you get the most for your dollar.

150 Watt
Switching
Power Supply

110/220 Volt
Switchable

Phoenix

Bios

AT Jr.

Style
Cabinet

. Keyboard
* Lock

c Turbo
0 On/Oft

6 Reset

115/220V
3U Power Input

parallel
Printer Port

20 Meg

11 Hard Disk (Hidden)

Amber

1 Hi-Res TTL

Monochrome Monitor

6 Slots
Available

Hard
38 Disk

Controller

12 Power on Light

13 Power Switch on Front
2 Tilt & Swivel Base

Clock-

Calendc

Two Available
14 Half Height Mounts

360K

3 Floppy
Drive

Scroll
23 Lock
Light

Num
22 Lock
Light

Floppy Disk
Controller

Optional

" 2nd Serial Port

RS232

Serial

Port

Joystick

Port

TTL Monographics
or RGB Color Output

Twelve Function
Keys

Click or Non
Click Key Touch
Your Choice

Caps
21 Lock
Light

Numeric
Key Pad

Air Cooling
Fan

Factory
I.D. Code

Auxiliary
Power Outlet

Four Protective
43 Rubber Feet

~ n Composite

Mono/Color Port

Bus Mouse
29 Port

, g Intel 8088-2
43 Microprocessor

8087-2 Coprocessor
Socket

9 "On" Light

Turbo

Light

Hard
7 Disk
Light

640K
RAM

47 Speaker

Nickel Plated

Proper Label with
Serial Number and
Date Code

Separate
Editor Keys

Key Pad

Rom Sockets
To User

Circle 514 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 • BYTE 88NE-7

-GET SMART - MICRO

You’re in Good Company With
Micro Smart!

In addition to the thousands of home-users
who rely on Micro Smart, our corporate clients
include: New England Power

University Of Alabama State of New York
Boston University Tufts Universitv
Georgia Tech University of Hartford

Granite State Power University of Pennsylvania
U.S. Government
Aetna Insurance
Honeywell
Mass Electric

Harvard University
Holy Cross
Yale University
Xerox Corporation

SMART MICRO (f) : 10 mhz

• Compatibility —bylar the best and most compatible bios
We guarantee that MS-DOS software will operate
flawlessly: Lotus. Symphony. Flight Simulator. Wordstar
2000. Word DBase. RBase. the list qoes on and on

• Turbo Speed — 4 77 mhz to 10 mhz both keyboard and
software selectable

• Turbo light — No guessing ? It it's on. it's Turbo

• 8 expansion slot motherboard

• 512K Memory — High quality pre-tested chips on a 1MB
motherboard

• FREE Hercules compatible high resolution amber
monitor and graphics card.

• Expandibleto 1MB with FREE Extended Memory Software.

• We even give you a tilt and swivel based monitor lor ycut
comlort

• One high quality 360K floppy drive. (Our head technician

checks each one | / / I I

• Continuous and heavy duty 150 Watt power supply (15 /

Wafts more than most competitorsl I

• A battery backed-up clock/calendar

• A slot for a math co-processor chip 8087. / V 1

• 1 serial port — you can add a second ry-m /

• 1 parallel port for your printer. . / r"»*,

• 1 game port tor toy sticks

• AT Style Keyboard with 10 Function Keys. /

• FCC Class B Approved. j

$ 659. 95

Smart Micro E with hard drive

21 megabytes - complete system .$999.95

33 megabytes - complete system.$1049.95

42 megabytes - complete system.$1099.95

. SMART MICRO 3B6

• Smart Linq Novell Unix & Xenix Compatible.

• 8/16MHZ, no wait states (16/20MHZ Optional)

• Compatibility — by tar the best and most compatible bios.
We guarantee that MS-DOS software will operate flaw¬
lessly: Lotus, Symphony, Flight Simulator, Wordstar 2000,
DBase, RBase, the list goes on and on...

• 1024K-memory — High quality pretested chips (80 NS)

• Battery backed up clock calendar

• 1 parallel port.

• 1 Serial Port (second port $20.00 additional).

» 8 full expansion slots

• Enhanced Keyclick Keyboard (101 key).

• Hercules compatible graphics card.

• High-resolution monochrome monitor with a tilt and
swivel base.

• 1.2MB floppy drive.

» 3 half-height external access device bays.

• 2 half-height internal device bays.

» 200 watt power supply.

• FCC Approved.

$2,199. 95

SMART MICRO/AT286
10MHz

(Optional 12MHZ - “0” Wait State)

• Smart Linq' Novell Unix & Xenix Compatible.

• Compatibility — by far the best and most compatible bios.

We guarantee that MS-DOS software will operate flaw¬
lessly: Lotus, Symphony. Flight Simulator. Wordstar 2000,
Word, DBase. RBase, the list goes on and on...

• 8 expansion slots to till all ot your expansion needs.

• Turbo light — No guessing, It it's lit, it's Turbo.

• 512K memory — High quality pre-tested chips (upgrade-
able to 1MB on the motherboard).

• FREE Hercules compatible high resolution amber
monitor and graphics card.

• We even give you a tilt and swivel based monitor for
your comfort.

• Onehighqualityfloppydrive. 1.2 meg or 360 K. (Our head

technician checks each one.) I i . i

• 200 watt power supply. iT"’

• AT style keyboard with 10 function keys.

• 1 parallel port. *<7

• Slot for a Math Co-processor 80287 ,

• A clock calendar lor automatic time and date w/battery
backup.

• FCC Class B Approved.

$ 999? 5

AT/286 systems complete with Hard Drives

20 megabyte complete systems . SI.399.95

42 megabyte complete systems . SI.499.95

60 megabyte and larger. from SI.699.95

SMART MICRO OPTIONS

WHEN QUALITY, PRICE AND SERVICE COUNT

Long wails (or your system? NEVER! Order it TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
by 2:00pmonanyweekdayand,If instock, we We pride ourselves in our ability to assist in
will ship it that day. Microsmart provides you most situations. We will even try. when able, to
with service all year round! help you with a competitor's product, or try to

All of our computers are given a primary burn steer you in the right direction for assistance,
for 48 hours and after setup, are burned again Just call our well-trained technical staff. You will
for 72 hours. We then configure YOUR system find them anxious to be of service. Call (617)
and diagnostically check it out. 872-9090.

SERVICE MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

No one does it better! Shipments are made Absolutely. We don't want you to have a product
Monday through Friday. "All in-stock items that you aren't happy with. Just let us know within
are shipped the same day If your order is 21 days of receipt and, upon return, we will give
placed by 2:00 p.m. Orders placed after 2:00 you a refund (less shipping handling and in-
p.m. are shipped the next business day. surance).

ALL of the systems shown come with
PC-WRITE word processor, PC-CALC
spreadsheet PC-DESKTEAM, and
Smart Utilities.

• 42 to 204 megabyte drives Installed... from $499.95

MICRO

NETWORKS
SMART LINQ

Your answer to
your problems
see next page.

,TM

SMART,!

200 Homer Avenue, Ashland, MA 01721

1-508-872-9090

FAX: 508-881-1520

TRADEMARKS: IBM Corp.; Lotus Development;
Tandy Corp.; Microsoft, Inc.; Micro Smart. Inc.;
Novell; NEC; Smart-Ling.

ORDER TOLL
1 - 800 - 333-8841

(Orders Only)

Technical Assistance (508) 872-9090

Order by 2:00 p.m.
shipped by 5:00 p.m.

(Sold with System)

EGA exchange with EGA monitor 80287 math

and EGA card (640x350 resolution) coprocessor.SCALL

S449.95 Tactile 101 key enhanced

VGA exchange with 100% keyboard . $25.00

hardware compatible EGA, CGA, DOS 3.3. SCALL

and Hercules (800 x 600 Mouse $69.95

resolution). $699.95 300/1200 baud modem

CGA exchange complete with w/software . $69.95

CGA Card and Monitor . $210.00 2400 baud modem
(EGA, CGA and Multisync exchange w/software . $149.95

replaces monochrome card and 360Kfloppy diskdrive $89.00

monitor.) 3V2” floppy disk

drive. from S115.00

Custom Configuration—
Our Specialty!

If you don’t see what you want here, we will
build it to suit you. Just ask.

1 TERMS & CONDITIONS

2 The prices quoted here are for cash. We will
accept MasterCard, VISA, Discover and
American Express. C.O.D.’s are accepted without
any deposit. Purchase Orders are accepted
based on prior approval. Call today for details.
Prices subject to change without notice. Not
responsible for typographical errors.

21 day money back guarantee less shipping,
handling and insurance.

c 1988 Micro Smart, Inc.

88NE-8 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

^OPTia/j 1

SMART"

AND

SMART-LINQ

EASY

INSTALLATION Q

We prepare the system for you ^
(standard or custom configuration). ^

IT IS READY
TO USE

With

SMART-LINQ™
you just
PLUG & PLAY

SMART-LINQ™

NOVELL STYLE NETWORK

STARTING AT

$299.95

per station

(complete with software and cables)

-LINQ"

SMART LINQ

THE

MISSING LINK

ADD STATIONS
WITH EASE

The system will handle from two to
254 work stations. Add a station
whenever you need to.

With

SMART-LINQ™
you just
PLUG & PLAY

^ SMART-LINQ-.'r^^^

SMART-LINQ" - SMART FEATURES * *

■ DEDICATED FILESERVER? NO!

Any station in our network can be established as the file server. Unlike many networks,
you do not need to dedicate a specific unit as a file server with SMART LINQ'*.

■ FILE & RECORD LOCK? YES!

■ 2 YEAR WARRANTY!!

■ UP TO 254 STATIONS

■ UP TO 10 MEGABIT TRANSFER

■ UP TO 3,000 FEET (with repeater).

■ INSTALLED IN LESS THAN 15 MINUTES

Starts at

mart $2999.00
Linct

Smart *7*'

L.nq- $3949.95

Smart *7°“'

Linq- $4899.95

2 station network

3 station network

4 STATION network

• AT 286 Server Workstation.

• with 40 megabite 640K

• with 40 megabite 640K.

• XT8088 Workstation.

• Two XT8088 Workstations.

• Three XT8088 Workstations.

• Two SMART LINO™ Cards

• Three SMART LINQ™ Cards.

• Four SMART LINQ™ Cards.

• SMART LINQ™ Software and

DOS 3.3A

DOS 3.3A.

• 25 Ft. of Cable*

• 50 Ft. of Cable.*

• 75 Ft. of Cable.*

• Software Installed Ready To Run.

NETWORKtNG S^^gPAO

Smart
Lino”

XPANSION MODULE

$ 999.95

i 8088-2 Computer - complete
i 640K of Memory

• SMART LINQ™ Board and Software
► 25 Ft. of Cable.*

THE DUAL-USER'

® 60 Megabyte System

□ 2 Stations Networked

□ Operate as 2 Separate A.T.’s

□ 12 MHZ 80286 System

□ No Speed Degradation

□ Set Up In Minutes

COMPLETE PACKAGE

(Everything You Need)

$ 2499.95

* You may purchase additional cabling and alter the actual cable lengths.

2 YEAR WARRANTY

We are confident of our product. Therefore we
offer you a two year repair or replacement, at
our option, warranty on all parts of our Smart-
Linq' Network except cables. Just ship your
unit to us freight prepaid and we will ship it
back within 24 hours of arrival.

AFTER WARRANTY SERVICE

As a team, we have been serving you since
1981. We know how important it is loryou to
be up and running. In and out of warranty
service is treated the same, YOU'RE IM¬
PORTANT TO US! All repairs are done within
24 hours!

For technical assistance call (508) 872-9090.

ORDER TOLL FREE!
1 - 800 - 333-8841

(Orders Only)

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE (508) 872-9090

Our hours are from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. E.S.T.
Monday through Friday and from
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. E.S.T. on Saturday

MICRO

SMART inc.

200 Homer Avenue, Ashland, M A 01721
1-508-872-9090

FAX: 508-881-1520

TRADEMARKS: IBM Corp.: Lotus Development:
Tandy Corp.: Micrusott. Inc.: Micro Smart, Inc.;
Novell: NEC: Smarl-Linq.

C 1988 Micro Smart, Inc.

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 88NE-9

Built By

At UNIQ Tech, NERDS are respected. In fact they’re revered. When it comes to building top-notch IBM
compatible computers, no one works harder or is more concerned with quality than our nerds. NERDS is an
acronym for Nouveau Engineering Research and Development Specialists. UNIQ Tech is owned and
operated by engineers. This assures you that what you purchase will be evaluated, tested and scrutinized by
true ‘blue’ (pardon the pun) professionals. Perhaps that’s why 80 % of our customers are dealers who specialize
in networking. CAD/CAM and other complex operations that would maim a lesser computer.

Decide for yourself. Call the company that will work harder for you. UNIQ TECH, the company with
NERDS.

Complete Solutions

COMPUTERS OPERATING SYSTEMS NETWORKS

80386(16,20MHZ) DOS ETHERNET

80286AT (10,12M HZ) SCO-XENIX-386 ARCNET

8088XT (4.77/10MHZ) SCO-XENIX-286 NOVELL

PORTABLES D-LINK

TERMINALS |-1 3COM

UNIQ TECHNOLOGY INC.

165 D New Boston St., Woburn, MA 01801

( 617 ) 935-7150

88NE-10 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Circle 522 on Reader Service Card

Competence.

At CRC we think competence
is worth pursuing.

There was a time — not so long ago — when
anyone could configure a PC out of IBM-
standard components and off-the-shelf
software and call himself a systems integrator.

That time is gone.

To make a 25-MHz 80386 system or a high-
performance network actually work you need
know-how — hardware know-how, software
know-how, system know-how, and application
know-how. Know-how acquired through
hands-on experience — not out of a catalog.

In short, competence.

You also need to listen to what your customer
wants and needs, and adapt the manufacturers’
“standard” products to fit those needs. Which
we do. Every day.

We use only certified, quality components,
like ALR computers, Novell Netware,
Thomas-Conrad Arcnet cards... and we make
sure they all work
together as a system
before they leave our
shop — because it’s
your business on the
line.

Why not call CRC now?

Find out how refreshing
competence can be. COMPUTER

Computer Resource Center Inc.

209 Broadway Methuen, MA 01844 (508) 689-9795

c -e >n »t • e•r i.n .c

OCTOBER 1988 • B Y T E 88NE-11

Circle 513 on Reader Service Card

Buy with

Confidence

In an effort to make your
telephone purchasing a more
successful and pleasurable
activity, The Microcomputer
Marketing Council of the
Direct Marketing Association,
Inc. offers this advice, "A
knowledgeable buyer will be a
successful buyer." These are
specific facts you should know
about the prospective seller
before placing an order:

Ask These Important
Questions

• How long has the company
been in business?

• Does the company offer
technical assistance?

• Is there a service facility ?

• Are manufacturers warran¬
ties handled through the
company?

• Does the seller have formal
return and refund policies?

• Is there an additional charge
for use cf credit cards?

• Are credit card charges held
until time of shipment?

• What are shipping costs for
items ordered?

(Q> Direct Marketing Association, Inc. 1988

88NE-12 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Reputable computer dealers
will answer all these questions
to your satisfaction. Don't
settle for less when buying your
computer hardware, software,
peripherals and supplies.

Purchasing Guidelines

• State as completely and ac¬
curately as you can what
merchandise you want in¬
cluding brand name , model
number, catalog number.

• Establish that the item is in
stock and confirm shipping
date.

• Confirm that the price is as
advertised.

This message is brought to you
by:

the MICROCOMPUTER
MARKETING COUNCIL
of the Direct Marketing
Association, Inc.

6 E. 43rd St.,

New York, NY 10017

MMC

MICROCOMPUTER
MARKETING COUNCIL

of the Direct Marketing Association, Inc.

• Obtain an order number
and identification of the
sales representative.

Make a record of your
order, noting exact price in¬
cluding shipping, date of
order, promised shipping
date and order number.

If you ever have a problem,
remember to deal first with the
seller. If you cannot resolve the
problem, write to MAIL
ORDER ACTION LINE, c/o
DMA, 6 E. 43rd St., New York,
NY 10017.

ttt ccr'f uie*

Giant Wave Heading Straight for Boston!

It’s coming. The wave of information
and resources you need to run your
business, your home office, or for your
personal use, in an efficient, cost-
effective way. The wave is coming to
the Hynes Oct. 27-29.

Whether you’re in architecture, educa¬
tion, engineering, manufacturing, law,
government, healthcare, construction,
real estate, accounting, or finance,
you’ll get right to the product for your
specific needs with our Vertical Market
Matching Program.

See What’s Hot In
Computer Graphics

You’ll experience everything from
Desktop Publishing, presentation
graphics, graphics software, to low-
cost CAD systems and more. And all
will be explored in focused conferences.

The information wave at the Northeast
Computer Faire is co-sponsored by
the world’s leading computer user
group, the Boston Computer Society

and its 29,000 member information
and education network.

Brace yourself for hundreds of ex¬
hibits for the professional small
systems user, with a huge variety of
computers, software, accessories,
services and peripherals. At the best
prices in town.

The 11th Northeast Computer
Faire’s information wave hits the
Hynes Convention Center Oct. 27-29.
Riding the wave of imagination for
your computer needs.

October 27-29, 1988
Hynes Convention Center, Boston, MA

Co-Sponsored by

OOOOTbe Boston Computer Society SM

Fill out this coupon and mail with your check for
$11.00 for each registrant, postmarked by
October 8, 1988.

Include the names and addresses of each
registrant for whom you are enclosing a check.
(Photocopy coupon for additional registrants.)

Name

Title

Company
Address _
City_

State_Zip_ i

Phone (_)_

Three day conference and exhibits $11.00 in j

advance, $15.00 at the door. Make check payable
to "Northeast Computer Faire.” Mail to: Attendee
Registration Department, Northeast Computer I
Faire, 300 First Avenue, Needham, MA 02194. i
Advanced registrations accepted only with full |
payment and each registrant’s name and address.

. Tickets will be mailed to each individual registrant .
| separately. _ bm iosJ

To exhibit, call (617) 449-6600, ext. 5028.

Produced by:

HTHE INTERFACE GROUP Inc..

World’s Leading Independent Producer of
Conferences and Expositions
300 First Avenue • Needham, MA 02194

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 88NE-13

Circle 519 on Reader Service Card

You’ve seen them on the pages of Byte
— now enjoy these delightful images as
stunning limited edition prints! Each ex¬
quisite, 16" x 20" reproduction is part of an
edition strictly limited to only 1000 prints.
The museum-quality paper is an acid-
free, 100% cotton fiber stock (highly
resistant to yellowing or cracking) which
will preserve image color and brightness
for generations.

The artist, Robert Tinney, personally
inspects, signs and numbers each individ¬
ual print. Accompanying the print is a Cer¬
tificate of Authenticity (also signed and
numbered by Tinney) which verifies the
number of the edition and the destruction
of the press plates.

The price of each print depends on the
number of unsold prints in the edition, and
is shown beneath the photos at left. If your

Word Processor

order exceeds $100, deduct 15%. All
prints are shipped flat via UPS Blue Label, and carry an
unconditional 30-day guarantee.

To order, clip the coupon below. VISA, MasterCard or
AmEx orders may call 1-318-826-3003.

#D Number Crunching $55

#F Human Dimensions $55

Programmable $55 |jjp

Hardware

Intelligent $90
Reflections

illlliit 5

#C Technological $60
Breakthrough

YES! Send me the following Byte Limited Editions.

QTY. #

TITLE

AMOUNT

If your order exceeds $100, deduct 15%. $

TOTAL

$4 postage & handling ($25 overseas).

□ Send a color brochure
showing your other prints.

□ I have enclosed U.S. check or money order.

□ C.O.D. (via UPS—stateside orders only)

□ VISA □ MasterCard □ American Express
Card #:

Expires:.

— Signature:.

SHIP MY PRINT(S) TO:
Name:_

State:.
Country: .

Mail this coupon to:

ROBERT TINNEY GRAPHICS

P.O. Box 778 • Washington, LA 70589

For VISA, MasterCard or American Express orders,

or for more information «***

CALL 1-318-826-3003

88NE-14 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Instant envelopes from any
HP compatible laser printer

If you use a laser printer,
you already know that laser
printers do a great job with
pages, but they're awful
when it comes to envelopes.

First, you have to
select the landscape mode,
then pick a font code, and
finally you have to position
the name and address at
just the right place on the
screen and hope it comes
out right on the envelope.

Even for a single address!

That's why even though
laser printed envelopes look
much better, most users give
up and type their envelopes
on a standard typewriter
instead. Getting those crisp
font styles onto envelopes
is just too complicated.

Until now.

Introducing ERMASOFT
Laser Envelopes 2.0, the
smart envelope utility for
HP compatible laser printers.

ERMASOFT Laser
Envelopes 2.0 lets you print
any of your laser printer's
internal, cartridge or soft
fonts. And it can even mix
up to four different styles
on each envelope.

ERMASOFT Laser

Envelopes 2.0 also lets you
capture a name and address
directly from your appli¬
cation with a pop-up, 5K
memory resident, cut-and
paste utility.

It grabs the
name and
address from
the screen and
stores it in
memory. You
can even capture
more than one
and save them to
disk in a batch file.

Or, use

ERMASOFT Laser
Envelopes 2.0 from
the DOS prompt and
enter an entire list. It's
ideal for frequent business
mailings that need a
personalized look.

And ERMASOFT Laser
Envelopes 2.0 not only
prints envelopes that look
great; it's easy to use, too.
Forget those clumsy land¬
scape and font settings.
You won't need to change
a thing on your printer.

Once you've installed
your choices, ERMASOFT
Laser Envelopes 2.0 gets
it right every time.

And ERMASOFT Laser
Envelopes 2.0 handles a
wide range of envelope

sizes from a small 3"X5" to
a large 8V2"X11". It even
does postcards and direct-
mailers. No other program

ABC Corporation

Atf Mr. Robert Smith

10000

is as easy to use
or as convenient, nor as
economical—ERMASOFT
costs only $49.95 plus $3
shipping and handling.

Its small cost and big
value will enhance your
laser printer investment,
as well as the look of your
correspondence.

In fact, we're so confident
that you'll be completely
satisfied, we guarantee it. If
for any reason you don't
agree, return it within 30
days for a full refund.

Use your Visa or
MasterCard and order now.
And make your envelopes^
look as good as what's ^
in them.

1 -800-288-ERMA

ERMASOFT

[LASER ENVELOPES 2.0J

E.R.M. Associates, 29015 Garden Oaks Court, Agoura Hills, CA 91301 m

OCTOBER 1988 • B Y T E 88NE-15

Circle 517 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 518)

Introducing the next generation computer, the Cambridge Z88.

No disks. No DOS.

CAMBRIDGE

COMPUTERS

i © * $ % a a* ( ) - + l

l234567890-«\

QWERTYUlOPli E

: ,, . T E

ASDFGHJKLi r£

2. X C V B N M

hOEJt MENU HELP □

y 7 SHIFT 0

<p t=> &

THE MOST PORTABLE, FULL

FUNCTION COMPUTER EVER MADE.

■ No disks, or disk operating
system

■ 8.25" x 11.5" x .875", weighs
less than 2 lbs., goes anywhere

■ 32K of built-in memory, expands
to over 1.5 megabytes

■ Powerful applications software

■ Supertwist LCD display,

8 lines x 106 columns

■ QWERTY keyboard with silent
travel keys

■ Operates on 4 AA batteries for
20 hours

■ PCLink imports/exports
Wordstar, Lotus 1-2-3, and
ASCII files

■ Solid state Memory Cartridges m
for added memory

■ Permanent storage of contents
on EPROM Memory Cartridges™

not the average
personal computer.

The Cambridge Z88 wasn’t designed to be the average
personal computer. In fact, the Cambridge Z88 is the
first in a new generation of personal computers, unlike
any computer ever seen before.

Operating without disks or a disk operating system,
the Z88’s internal software enables you to move easily
from task to task without booting, loading, opening,
saving or quitting. Replaceable solid state Memory
Cartridges™ add to memory capacity, operating ease and
program capacity.

Designed by Clive Sinclair who introduced the break¬
through Sinclair ZX80, 81 and QL, the Cambridge Z88 is
compact, lightweight, and powerful enough to be used
anywhere; just switch it on.

The best news about the Cambridge Z88 is the price; you
pay less for this personal computer than you would for
some PC software and peripherals-$599.00. And it won’t
cost you anything to try the Cambridge Z88 yourself.

Architecture

The Cambridge Z88 is designed with four chips: a CMOS
Z80; a 32K RAM (expandable to over three
megabytes); a 128K ROM for the operating
system, powerful BASIC, and built-in
applications (word processor, spread¬
sheet, daily date manager, etc.); and
custom controller chip.

The Cambridge Z88,

Memory

The Cambridge Z88’s memory is expandable with replace¬
able solid state RAM and EPROM Memory Cartridges™
that fit into three easy to access slots under the key¬
board. The EPROM cartridges retain their contents
when removed from the Z88.

Task switching

With Instant On™, there’s no booting, loading, opening,
saving, or quitting. When you want to work on a new
task, press the INDEX key to display a list of applications
and files; then select one. The task you were working on
will be instantly saved. Switched off, the Z88 automati¬
cally saves your work; turn it on again, everything
appears exactly as you left it.

Operating features

Display: 8 lines by 106 column supertwist LCD display
with 80 columns of work area, including page map with
a view of the entire page and command menus.
Keyboard. A full sized, easy to use QWERTY keyboard
with silent travel keys. Context sensitive command
menus can be opened to display all of the available
commands and their keyboard equivalents.

Communications

The Z88 has an RS232 port for a printer (serial and

parallel cables are available), modem,
and a PCLink enabling ASCII,
Wordstar, and Lotus 1-2-3 files to be
transferred to and from your PC.

Memory Cartridges™ are available in 32K, I28K, and 512K.

Put the Cambridge Z88
to the test for 15 days,

Test the Z88 for the next 15 days and discover what
the next generation of personal computers will be
like: at work, travel, home, use the Z88 anywhere.
You will also receive free, a one year subscription
to CompuServe, the nation’s electronic bulletin
board. If you decide not to keep the Z88, return
it for a complete refund.

and get free, a one year
$40.00 subscription to

CompuServe

the electronic communication
network bulletin board.

H Electronic Mail ■ Bulletin Board

■ User Forums ■ Computing Publications

■ New software and hardware

ORDER FORM

r^.

ORDER BY MAIL: Make check or money order payable to Cambridge Direct,
Box 4200, Northbrook, IL 60065-4200.

. Telephone L

Address _
City_

Check no. _
Card name.

. Money order no..
_Card no. .

. Exp. date _

Signature_Date_

ORDER BY PHONE: To order by phone with a credit card, call

1 - 800 - 435-7729 from 10am to 7pm, Monday through Friday, Central time,

and ask for Operator 10. Please have card name, number, and expiration date

L ready when ordering.

Cambridge Direct will express your Z88 within 48 hours after receipt of order.

QTY.

ITEM

PRICE

PACK &
SHIP

TOTAL

PRICE

EXTEND

PRICE

8000 Z88 Computer

599.00

12.00

611.00

8201 32K RAM Pack

45.00

3.00

48.00

8202 128K RAM Pack

110.00

3.00

113.00

8210 32K EPROM Pack

45.00

3.00

48.00

8211 128K EPROM Pack

110.00

3.00

110.00

8220 IBM PC Link II

75.00

3.00

78.00

8230 Serial Cable 9M to 25F

22.00

3.00

25.00

8231 Parallel Cable 9M to 36M

65.00

3.00

68.00

8240 Modem and Cable

259.00

5.00

264.00

8232 AC Adapter

9.95

3.00

12.95

Illinois residents add 7% sales tax
TOTAL ORDER

The Cambridge Z88 computer

-$59900

Includes a one year limited warranty,
manual, and lightweight carrying case.

Circle 509 on Reader Service Card

CAMBRIDGE

DIRECT

1419 Lake Cook Rd. Suite 300
Deerfield, IL 60015
1-312-940-1554

For Z88 dealer locations or questions
about the Cambridge Z88, call the Cambridge
product support team at 1-800-435-7729.

Short Takes

BYTE editors offer hands-on views of new products

3-in-One P321SLC

Illustrator 88

AppleCD SC

Super PC-Kwik

PolyBoost II

Tickler/2

Zortech Comm Toolkit

Toshiba 3-in-One: The Colorized Version

THE FACTS

C oloring movies has gotten
Ted Turner a lot of criti¬
cism, but no one can object to
what Toshiba has done to its
24-pin dot-matrix printer. Be¬
sides being fast and capable of
high-resolution printing, the
new Toshiba 3-in-One
P321SLC can print in four
colors and can produce some
remarkable output. Using
combinations of the cyan-ma-
genta ribbon, you can get out¬
put in up to seven colors, in¬
cluding black. Green, orange,
and purple can be simulated.

Assembling the printer and
setting up the paper feed takes
about 3 minutes, but once the
mechanical requirements are
taken care of, changing con¬
figurations is a breeze. The
front panel ’ s four switches and
liquid crystal display let you
access all the configuration
parameters through layers of
setup menus. More common
parameters (e.g., font, pitch,
and emulation) are available in
the first layer, while every¬
thing from RAM allocation to
horizontal registration can be
adjusted if you care to delve
deeper.

The printer comes with 34K
bytes of memory that is shared
between the print buffer and

Toshiba 3-in-One

P321SLC

$949

Interfaces required:
Centronix parallel or
25-pin RS-232C.

downloadable fonts. There are
two card slots on the front of
the machine for optional 32K-
byte RAM modules or font
cards. My evaluation system
came with two font cards,
which let me access a total of
five typefaces. Courier, Pres¬
tige Elite, and High Speed are
the standard ones. Typefaces
can be scaled between 10 and
20 points.

Printing speed varies from
job to job, but the P321SLC is
always noticeably fast. Draft-
quality documents zoom by at
a rated print speed of 216
characters per second, while
letter-quality printing is rated
at a respectable 72 cps. I timed
one letter-quality sample and
found it took about 50 seconds
to print a little less than 2000
characters. For the average
text job, expect to wait about a
minute per page.

Toshiba America Inc.
Information Systems
Division

9740 Irvine Blvd.
Irvine, CA 92718
(714) 583-3000

Inquiry 851.

Resolution is excellent, as is
typical of 24-pin printers. The
clarity really shows on fine
line graphics and small, nar¬
row typefaces like Prestige
Elite. The print head is pin-
addressable and can provide
graphics at up to 180 by 360
dots per inch.

While printing in color pro¬
vides you with a versatility you
can’t achieve in monochrome,
it also opens doors to a few
problems. The biggest prob¬
lem I had was finding drivers
in my applications that would
let me print in color. The
P321SLC supports three emu¬
lations: Toshiba/Qume, IBM
Proprinter, and IBM Color
Printer. While applications
often include Toshiba drivers,
several notable packages—
ACAD 2.52 and Dr. HALO
III 3.0, among others—sup¬
port only the monochrome

versions, and you are forced to
fall back on IBM emulation.

The detailed 268-page
user’s manual has a technical
reference section that de¬
scribes all the ASCII escape
sequences. Using these, I gen¬
erated color text by embedding
the commands in XyWrite. In¬
structions are included for
creating color text using Mul-
tiMate and other popular
packages. I printed several
graphics images using Har¬
vard Graphics 2.10. Narrow
line images like maps and me¬
chanical design plots turned
out very well, while more
filled drawings tended to show
lines where the printer had
made repeated passes.

The new 3-In-One adds
color to a fine line of Toshiba
printers. With this and other
dot-matrix printers becoming
more and more affordable,
high-resolution color may well
be the common output of the
future.

—Steve Apiki

Illustrator 88:
PostScript
Drawing Gets
Better

A dobe’s Illustrator and
Aldus’s FreeHand are
like two great baseball teams
slugging it out, with one team
going ahead in the top of the
inning and the other team
coming back to scratch out the
tying and go-ahead runs.

Adobe batted first in 1986
and scored impressively with
Illustrator, which established
a whole new class of drawing
program that uses the Post¬
Script language to create
artwork made up of lines and
Bezier curves. Earlier this
year, Aldus tied the score and
continued

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 89

SHORT TAKES

went ahead with FreeHand,
which does wonders with
colors and had on its roster one
thing Illustrator lacked: a
freestyle drawing tool. And
now Adobe has sent up Illus¬
trator 88. The score has defi¬
nitely changed.

The new Illustrator has a
freestyle drawing tool, which
works like the pencil in Mac¬
Paint. This addition to the
toolbox gives you considera¬
bly more freedom when you ’ re
working on an illustration.
The program is primarily for
producing clean lines and
curves—which you do by lay¬
ing down a series of anchor
points and then having the pro¬
gram connect them—but there
are times when you need more
flexibility than the connect-
the-dots approach provides.

Another big change to the
Illustrator lineup is an auto¬
matic tracing tool, a signifi¬
cant feature lacking in Free-
Hand. Both programs let you
take an image and use it as a
template; using different
tools, you trace over that tem¬
plate and then use the tracing
(the top layer), which looks
much more polished than the
original, in your illustration.
This process is how these
PostScript drawing packages,
with their skill at producing
clean, perfect lines, let you
transform a rough sketch into a
sharp, well-defined piece of
artwork. Illustrator 88’s auto-
trace tool makes tracing a
rough image a painless—and
very fast—process. A brilliant
addition.

Illustrator can now do four-
color separations—one area
where FreeHand had gone
ahead—but uses a separate
utility to handle the process,
whereas FreeHand does it
from within the application.
Adobe has added the glorious
Pantone palette of colors,
which you can also use to
make custom colors of your
own. If you ’re lucky enough to
have a Macintosh II and a color
monitor, you’ll be able to pro¬
duce graphics that are just
downright lovely. While a
PostScript drawing program
like Illustrator can create

Illustrator 88
$495

Requirements:

A Macintosh Plus with an
800K-byte external hard
disk drive and System 4.2
or higher.

superb engineering-type
artwork quickly—it’s perfect
for schematics, diagrams, and
models—the addition of color
capabilities makes it suitable
for softer, nontechnical work
as well.

One of FreeHand’s nice ef¬
fects is its shading capabili¬
ties, which let you fill an
image with graduated color or
intensity. Illustrator 88 has a
tool that produces similar re¬
sults, but it is considerably
harder to use. In fact, I found
this Blend tool to be the most

Adobe Systems
1585 Charleston Rd.
P.O.Box 7900
Mountain View, CA
94039

(415) 961-4400

Inquiry 852.

frustrating part of the program.

You’d better have a real
good grip on Illustrator’s
main elements (i.e., paths,
endpoints, and anchor points)
and terminology before you
tackle blending. I made the
mistake of just trying to feel
my way through the process of
blending two different shapes
and kept getting hit with error
messages like “Please use the
Blend tool on a selected end¬
point of an ungrouped open
path.” This is not MacPaint.
You can’t just pick up a brush

and go to work. Save yourself
lots of time and frustration by
reading the manual.

Illustrator has not improved
much in its text tools. You can
do some fancy things with
characters and fonts—like
changing their shapes and fill¬
ing them with patterns—but
you can’t mix fonts or sizes
within a chunk of text. And
some users have criticized the
program’s lack of kerning
control.

While Illustrator 88’s pre¬
view mode is handy, you can’t
do any work to the drawing on
the screen. You have to switch
back to the raw version to
make any changes. It took me
a while to stop instinctively
trying to edit the drawing in
preview mode, which is some¬
thing it is possible to do in
FreeHand.

One thing to know before
getting into Illustrator is the
oodles of memory it can use.
You have to pay something for
the power of this program, but
on a 1-megabyte machine,
which is the minimum, you
don’t have much room to work
with.

Criticizing Illustrator 88 is
a bit like criticizing Brooks
Robinson as a third baseman.
How can you argue with some¬
thing that gets the job done and
done gracefully? As for the
contest between Illustrator
and FreeHand, I’d say Adobe
has tied the score, maybe even
gone ahead.

—D. Elvis Barker

Listen While You Work: Apple’s CD-ROM Drive

T he AppleCD SC CD-
ROM drive gives Macin¬
tosh and Apple II users access
to applications containing up
to 550 megabytes—and the
chance to listen to music while
working with all that data.
Since the CD-ROM drive uses
the small-computer-system-
interface (SCSI) port to con¬
nect to the computer, hooking
it up is trivial. Just connect a
SCSI cable ($50 at Apple’s
prices) between the Mac and
the AppleCD SC. If it’s the

only SCSI device on the sys¬
tem, install the SCSI termina¬
tor plug ($30) and the Apple¬
CD SC is ready for action. You
also need to install the CD-
ROM drive software driver,
which lets the system recog¬
nize the AppleCD SC.

Unfortunately, while I was
testing the drive, most CD-
ROM software developers had
not yet released their prod¬
ucts . By the time you read this,
however, several CD-ROM
applications should be avail¬

able, and more vendors are ex¬
pected to announce products
for the AppleCD SC this fall
and early next year.

I had to content myself with
Apple’s “learning disc,’’
which presents a number of
third-party applications cur¬
rently under development, all
running under HyperCard 1.2
(HyperCard 1.1 does not sup¬
port the AppleCD SC). These
applications to come include
Grolier’s New Electronic En-

continued

90 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Embedded systems designers have already used CrossCode C in over 172 different applications.

Introducing CrossCode C
for the 68000 Microprocessor Family

Finally, a 68000 C Compiler that’s
tailor-made for ROMable applications

C rossCode C is designed specifically to
help you write ROMable code for all
members of the Motorola 68000 family.

A ROMable C Compiler?

To get truly ROMable code, you have to start
with a truly ROMable compiler. Here are
three CrossCode C features that you won’t
find in any ordinary C compiler:

• Compiler output code is split into five
independent memory sections that you
can assign into ROM or RAM as you
please.

• You can optimize the code for your
application becau szyou control the sizes
of data types. For example, you can
optimize for speed by using two byte ints,
or get maximum versatility by using four
byte ints.

• You can easily write assembly language
routines that call C functions and vice-
versa, because the compiler uses simple,
well documented parameter passing
conventions.

How About Low Level Control?
CrossCode C comes with an assembler that
has all the features that assembly language
programmers require. In fact, you could write

your whole application with it:

• The assembler features an advanced
macro language, conditional assembly,
“include” files, and an unlimited size
symbol table.

• Detailed cross references show you
where you’ve defined and referenced
your symbols.

• After a link, you can actually convert
your “relocatable” assembler listings into
“absolute” listings that contain absolute
addresses and fully linked object code.

Can It Handle The Link?

The CrossCode C linker is designed to handle
truly huge loads. There are no limits on the
number of symbols in your load or on the size
of your output file. And you can always count
on full 32 bit target addressability, because the
linker operates comfortably in the highest
ranges of the 68020’s address space.

How Does It Get To ROM?
CrossCode C comes with a down loader that
puts you in touch with all EPROM
programmers and emulators. It can convert
your load into Motorola S-Records, Intel Hex,
Tek Hex, Extended Tek Hex, and Data I/O
ASCII Hex. You can also produce a binary

image and convert that image into any format
you might want. In all formats, bytes can be
split into EPROMs for an 8, 16, or 32 bit
data bus.

Why Wait?

Once you start using CrossCode C, you may
just wonder how you ever got the job done
before! It’s available under MS-DOS for just
$ 1595, and it runs on all IBM PCs and
compatibles (640K memory and hard disk
are required). Also available under UNIX
& XENIX.

CALL TODAY for more information:

1-800-448-7733

Inside Illinois or outside the United States,
please dial

PHONE: 1-312-971-8170
FAX: 1-312-971-8513

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT SYSTEMS, INC.

3110 WOODCREEK DRIVE
DOWNERS GROVE, ILLINOIS 60515 USA

CrossCode™ is a trademark of SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
SYSTEMS, INC. MS-DOS® is a registered trademark of
Microsoft. UNIX® is a registered trademark of AT&T. XENIX® is a
registered trademark of Microsoft.

OCTOBER 1988 • B Y T E 91

Circle 135 on Reader Service Card

Quality Was Never
Priced So Low!

2400 bps

2400 / 1200 / 300 bps

MODEM

ONLY

100

MADE IN U.S.A.

5 Year Parts and Labor Warranty

Our 2400HC 2 Hayes Compatible Half Card modem is for IBM
PC/XT/AT and compatible computers. It uses the standard
‘AT’ command set. Included with our modem we supply
communications software, a 7 foot cord and documentation.

We build our modems at a mil-spec board house located in
suburban Chicago, using quality components. We test every
modem shipped and back our confidence in our quality with
a 5 year parts and labor warranty from the factory and a 30
day money back guarantee.

Engineering Inc.

162 N. Franklin St. • 5th Floor • Chicago, IL 60606
Toll Free Order Line for orders only 1-800*442*2285
For orders in Illinois 1-312-358-1501
Kiss Engineering Technical Support 1-800-442-2285

Orders within the USA (including
Alaska & Hawaii) are shipped FREE
via UPS.

Payment in U.S. funds drawn on a
U.S. bank required.

COD orders placed before 2 pm CST
shipped same day.

Illinois residents add 8% sales lax.
We do not accept credit cards.
Please send check or money order
for S100.

Subscription

Problems?

‘ We want to belp!

If you have a problem with your BYTE
subscription, write us with the details.

We'll do our best to set it right. But we
must have the name, address, and zip of
the subscription (new and old
address, if it's a change of address). If
the problem involves a payment, be sure
to include copies of the credit card
statement, or front and back of cancelled
checks. Include a '!business hours"
phone number if possible.

BVTE

Subscriber Service
P.O. Box 7643

Teaneck, NJ 07666-9866 tffiS

SHORT

THE FACTS

AppleCD SC
$1199

Requirements:

Apple Macintosh or
Apple II with a SCSI cable;
HyperCard 1.2
recommended for use on
the Macintosh.

Apple Computer
20525 Mariani Ave.
Cupertino, CA 95014
(408) 996-1010

Inquiry 853.

cyclopedia, Stanford Univer¬
sity’s The Electric Cadaver
for studying human anatomy
(see the August Microbytes),
and samples from The Whole
Earth Catalog. Most of the
sample applications include
lots of graphics and sound
and are an impressive demon¬
stration of the potential of the
CD-ROM.

Accessing the drive through
HyperCard is no different
from accessing a HyperCard
stack on a floppy disk or a hard
disk. The drive appears as an
icon on the desktop, and you
can open it just like any other
folder or stack. The main dif¬
ference, of course, is that you
can’t write to the CD-ROM
drive or make any changes to
the data that’s on the disk.

While HyperCard will
probably be the main interface
for CD-ROM software on the
Macintosh, Apple will pro¬
vide support for the High Si¬
erra ISO disk format, which is
dominant in the CD-ROM in¬
dustry. When the High Sierra
system software is available,
you can get it by mailing Apple
a coupon that comes with the
AppleCD SC. (High Sierra
will be supported on both the
Macintosh and Apple II,
Apple says.)

A slick feature of the Apple¬
CD SC is its ability to play
standard audio compact disks
using a desk accessory called
CD Remote, which controls
the audio disk. The CD-ROM
drive has sockets for connect¬
ing earphones, stereo speak-

TAKES

ers, or a stereo amplifier. To
use the AppleCD SC as a
stereo system, simply click on
CD Remote and insert an
audio disk in the drive. CD Re¬
mote presents a panel on the
screen, where you can click on
various buttons to play certain
selections, switch tracks,
pause, repeat, and so forth.
You can also remove the panel
from the screen and the CD
will continue to play as a back¬
ground task.

The AppleCD SC drive is an
excellent product, but it’s
pretty expensive at $1199 (add
another $80 for cabling). The
biggest disappointment is the
lack of software at this time.
Unless there’s an application
out there that you’ve got to
have right now, it’s probably
best to wait until more soft¬
ware is available.

—NickBaran

Two Great

Caching

Programs

A s processors get faster
and faster, disk I/O be¬
comes more and more of a bot¬
tleneck. A few major manu¬
facturers (notably, IBM and
Compaq) package disk-cach¬
ing software with their sys¬
tems to speed up read/write
operations.

A disk cache selectively
buffers disk reads and writes,
substituting fast RAM access¬
es for unnecessary or repeti¬
tious—and slow—disk opera¬
tions. A cache offers many of
the speed benefits of a RAM
disk but is easier to use. And
it’s also safer, because a cache
will automatically “write
through” to the disk instead of
requiring an explicit save or
copy command.

I looked at two inexpensive
disk-caching programs that
widen the bottleneck by
speeding up input and output:
Multisoft’s Super PC-Kwik
and Polytron’s PolyBoost II.
Both offer blazing speed and
impressive bells and whistles.

continued

92 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Suggested Retail

See us at

)€®RIDf M/Fall '88

November 14-18, 1988

Las Vegas Convention Center

Booth #163

TOTAL POWER PROTECTION

BLACKOUTS ^ nableS USer 10 °P erale clurin 9 complete loss

BROWNOUTS ^ seris|3rotected * rom lowACvolta ^ e be| ° w

102 volts.

Automatic shutdown in overload situation to
protect UPS from inverter burnout.

Clamps transients above 200 volts with
an energy rating of 100 joules or less.

OVERLOADS

fTLMZDtfni TAPE UPS runs on inverter (117 volts) when AC
U V t it VUL I nuL voltage exceeds 132 volts.

SURGES/SPIKES

EMI/RFI Three stage filtering for clean AC power.

• FULL ONE YEAR WARRANTY

• ORDER-SHIP SAME DAY

• 1 MILLISECOND TRANSFER TIME*

• SYNCHRONIZED SINEWAVE*

*250 watt and 500 watt units offer 4 msec
transfer time, PWM waveform

PARASYSTEMSJNC.

1455 LeMay Dr.
Carrollton, TX 75007

Telephone:
(214) 446-7363

1 - 800 - 238-7272

FAX: (214) 446-901 I TELEX: 140275 OMEGA

Power Output 120 Volt Models | 230 Volt Models

$ 429.00

$ 379.00

250 WATT

$ 799.00

$ 549.00

$ 699.00

300 WATT

500 WATT

$1049.00

$1749.00

$2299.00

$ 899.00

600 WATT

$1499.00

$1999.00

1200 WATT

1600 WATT

Optional Battery Packs Not Shown

250, 300 and 500 Watt Models

Circle 192 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 93

Circle 57 on Reader Service Card

Compact Disk Products, Inc.

CD ROM/WORM

. ALL PRODUCTS, LOWEST PRICES, EXPERT ADVICE

/NTRODUC TORY OFFERS

Hitachi 15035 or 3500S CD-ROM Drive

_ _ _| with your choice of:

- McGraw Hill Science and Technical Reference Set .... $095

- Grolier Electronic Encyclopedia. $995

- Microsoft Bookshelf... $B95

- PC-5G Library [Disks 1 - 1000]. . . . . . $095

CD -ROM SOFTWARE

Oxford English Dictionary. ■ ■ ■ ■ I3I47J . $945

Comstock Stock Photography On CD . . . . . . $445

Educorp Public Domain/Shareware for the Mac. BBS! $249

The New Grolier Electronic Encyclopedia.$359

McGraw Hi or Bookshelf or PG5G.$269

The Bble Lbrary. $495

K'rk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology.$045

Registry of Mass Spectral Data.$2655

Geovision U.S. Atlas and Mapmaker. . $795-

. .

TOLL FREE ORDER LINE • 800-MEGABYTe

(634-2298)|

CD -ROM and WORM DRIVES

Hitachi 1503S External CD-RDM Drive with Audio. $729

1503S with Digital Audio Output.$1229

Hitachi 3500S Internal 1/2 Height CD-ROM Drive w/Audio . . $719

Maxtor 000 MB WORM Drive. $3799

Dptotech Laserbank 400 MB WORM Drive. $2799

Portable 266 with CD-ROM Drive. $3795

CO-Play ($09) Pop-ip utity that permits user to play al audio COs on Hitachi
and compatble drives Output to headphones or ampifier.

CD-Play45ampler ($149) Same features as CD-Play plus the abity to name two
points on an audio CO and loop between them
Cu-AudoFile ($149) Automatically creates database records of al your audio CDs

I r^l \ [~] Alows you to store a preferred play sequence for each disk,
j yj J Automatic recognition of COs Creates DBase compatble records

Compact Disk Products
217 E. 05th St

Lompai
217 E.

I New York, NY 10020
I TeL 212-737-B400
I Fax 212-439-9109
I CompuServe 75530,214

Free 3 Month
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CD ROM Review
with orders over
$300

INTERNATIONAL ORDERS]

A SPECIALTY

Australian Agent: KEWTEL
145 Cotham Rd.

Kew, Victoria 3101
Tel. [Q3] 017-5933

• Remains in Place while you use your computer.

• Avoids Costly Repairs. Protects delicate electronics
from dust, spills, smoke, ashes, staples.

• Soft, Flexible, retains normal keyboard feel.

• Washable, Durable High-Tech Polymer lasts years.

• Hundreds of Models. SafeSkin is available for most
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• Office • Home • Factory • Classroom • Laboratory

List Price S 29.95. Please call or write for free color
brochure. Dealer Inquiries encouraged.

Keyboard Protector

Merritt Computer Products, lncJ4561 S. Westmoreland
Dallas, Texas 75237/(214) 339-0753 • Fax (214) 339-1313

SHORT TAKES

THE FACTS

Super PC-Kwik
$79.95

Multisoft Corp.

15100 Southwest Koll
Pkwy., Suite L
Beaverton, OR 97006
(503) 644-5644
Inquiry 854.

PolyBoost II
$79.95

Polytron Corp.

1700 Northwest 167th PL
Beaverton, OR 97006
(503) 645-1150

Inquiry 855.

Requirements for both: IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, or com¬
patible with DOS 2.0 or higher, 5K bytes to 5 megabytes
free memory (conventional, extended, or expanded), and
a hard disk drive.

Both will accelerate the disk
I/O of almost any Intel-based
machine, and both can exploit
conventional, extended, or ex¬
panded memory; users of IBM
PC AT-class machines also
can put to use the top 384K
bytes on their 1-megabyte
motherboards without the
Lotus/Intel/Microsoft Ex¬
panded Memory Specifica¬
tion or any other memory¬
enhancing scheme.

I tried both caches on a 16-
MHz Compaq 386 with 2
megabytes of memory and on a
16-MHz Club American 386
with 1 megabyte of memory.
Both programs worked flaw¬
lessly and boosted disk
throughput from 3 to 7 times
that of the same machines
without caches. (For worka¬
day applications, a speed in¬
crease of 3 or 4 times is typi-
cal.) I found that both
programs were faster than the
caching program Compaq
supplied; I’ve stopped using
Compaq’s cache.

While both caches are fast,
PolyBoost II is marginally
faster than Super PC-Kwik.
For example, a read/write¬
intensive operation like de¬
compressing a series of ar¬
chived text files took 22
seconds with PolyBoost II in¬
stalled and 24 seconds with
Super PC-Kwik installed.
(With no cache, the decom¬
pression took 39 seconds.)

A few seconds here or there
won’t add up to early retire¬
ment, but if speed is the deter¬
mining factor (it is for me),

PolyBoost II is the better
choice. On the other hand, be¬
cause their performances are
close, the bells and whistles
each of these programs offer
may tilt the balance one way or
the other for you.

Super PC-Kwik has a mind-
boggling array of options to
optimize its operations for
your usage patterns. It also
runs cooperatively with
Multisoft’s versatile PC-Kwik
Print Spooler (sold separately
for $45): The two programs
can dynamically share the
same memory above 640K
bytes. It’s pretty slick. In ef¬
fect, it uses the same RAM to
preferentially buffer and ac¬
celerate whatever the current
slowest I/O operation is.

PolyBoost II takes a differ¬
ent tack: It’s actually a suite of
several programs, including a
cache, a keyboard enhancer
(which speeds up keyboard re¬
sponse and includes a com¬
mand-line editor), a screen
speedup program (for mono¬
chrome or color displays), a
disk unfragmenter, and sev¬
eral other utilities. The combi¬
nation of disk, keyboard, and
screen speedups that results
when using PolyBoost II is im¬
pressive enough to make your
computer feel like a new and
much faster animal.

Any cache is better than no
cache; and these caches are
better than some others. You
really can’t go wrong with
either.

—FredLanga

continued

94 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Circle 162 on Reader Service Card

otax Verlagsges, Vienna • Technische Universitat, Vienna • Banco Industrial de Peru
imler Benz, Stuttgart • Saudi Eastern Petrochemical Company • Global Engineering Ltd
lilippine Institute for Development Studies • J. Walter Thompson, Madrid • Institute for Informati
\\S Volvo • Universidade Nova De Lisboa • Instituto Superior Tecnico, Buenos Aires • Uh
ulalongkorn University, Thailand • Philippine Institute for Development Stu<

' East Broadcasting Corporation • A
jdi Eastern Petrochemical Company
Kommunedata, Denmark •
gapore Polytechnic • Westii
Global Engineering Ltd., Lond
Universitat Stuttgart • _

diversity of
>teborg •
nco Indus- IWH

gjfi 1

Jardine Matheson Cc
Taiwan Ltd. • Technic
College of Stavanger
Farmer's Bank of Swede
11 • Norwegian Directora
' of Telecommunications
/ The United States Pentagc
1 • Daimler Benz, Stuttgarl
Universidc

Airlines # Sau

M pany • Glob

Jm / Engineering Lt
hB/ I • Chulalongko
H M University, Thailanc

P_ $ • Eurotax Verlagsge

Vienna • Philippine Institi
• Technische Universitat, Vienna • f or Development Studies

Saudi Eastern Petrochemical Company • • J. WalterThompson,Madric

r a De Lisboa • Instituto Superior Tecnico, Buenos Aires • UNESCO, Asian Pacific Headquartc

•tts

W hy do institutions worldwide trust ARC ?

Before you purchase your next computer,
call us. Y>u owe it to yourself to find out.

(1) 687699

1 +

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-ii—

nr:

Circle 17 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 18)

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OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 95

574980

SHORT TAKES

for laptops . . .

Pacific Rim
Systems

End 3Vz Inch Frustration

Complete solutions for using 5 Vi” diskettes on
your 3 Vi” based computer.

Our solutions for IBM® PS/2® computers are
available in either 1.2MB or 360KB varieties,
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any model PS/2 in a single box. No power sup¬
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Our laptop solutions also offer “one-drive-fits-
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Customized versions available for special ap¬
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welcome.

5 l A" Subsystem Specialists

Pacific Rim Systems, Inc.

2570 Barrington Court
Hayward, California 94545
FAX: (415) 782-1017
Telephone: (415) 782-1013

A Personal Tickler That Runs
under OS/2

D espite having to keep
track of such things as
meetings, deadlines, and my
wife’s birthday, I’ve frankly
found today’s crop of mem¬
ory-resident personal sched¬
ulers a real pain. I don’t have
the time to learn them, and
they take up huge chunks of
my limited MS-DOS RAM
real estate. So, with all this
computing “power” on my
desk, I still use pocket- and
desk-size calendars to sched¬
ule my days.

But that may change pretty
darn fast. Tickler/2 is by far
the most powerful personal
scheduler I’ve seen. It has a
bunch of handy features and
tricks, a simply elegant user
interface, and a low price, and
it runs only under OS/2.

Tickler/2 is the electronic
equivalent of those famous
paper-based tickler files that
many disgustingly organized
people use. A classic tickler
file takes up loads of space by
using individual file folders,
one for each day in the month,
along with folders for individ¬
ual months and upcoming
years. You fill these folders
with pieces of paper: notes, re¬
minders, letters to follow up,
and so on. It can get absurdly
crowded and confusing, and
you’re up the creek if you mis-

THE FACTS

Tickler/2

$80

Requirements:

IBM PC AT, PS/2,
or compatible with OS/2
Standard Edition 1.0
or higher and a hard disk
drive.

Enyart Development
Corp.

7000 East 70th Ave.
Commerce City, CO
80022

(303) 286-8686

Inquiry 856.

file an important paper.

This program uses OS/2’s
extended memory capacity
and multitasking abilities to
offer a huge amount of op¬
tions. Besides the normal
chore of entering appoint¬
ments, you can set messages to
appear on your screen at just
about any interval or on any
date, even years in advance. It
also has a relative scheduling
feature that lets you enter a
major event and then indicate
when and how often you want
to be reminded of it. If you tell
it to be merciless, Tickler/2’s
“nag” feature will continual¬
ly remind you of something
you need to get done until you
indicate you’ve done it. It will
also count down the days (or
hours) until deadline. Fea¬
tures like this are just the thing
for foot-dragging editors who
put off writing Short Takes
until the last minute.

Tickler/2 also lets you at¬
tach OS/2 commands to a mes¬
sage. With this feature, you
can have Tickler/2 do things
like automatically sending a
monthly report to the boss or
performing a weekly hard disk
backup. I used it to automati¬
cally log on to BIX overnight,
get my electronic mail, and
file conference messages.
Sure, you can do this with sev¬
eral MS-DOS programs, but
the fact that it’s integrated
with Tickler/2’s other fea¬
tures makes it handy indeed.

But the most intriguing fea¬
ture is something that is called
a “named event.” You can at¬
tach a virtually unlimited list
of messages to an event that
you can’t pin down to one par¬
ticular time. For example, if
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enter messages that are set to
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buys a system, doing things
like sending a thank-you let¬
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even a “trade-in time” re¬
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96 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

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program runs as a detached
task under OS/2. The latter
triggers the reminder mes¬
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there’s no “RAM cram” or
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Tickler/2 is one of the easi-
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You don’t have to learn eso¬
teric syntax to enter messages
and times; in most cases, you
just have to type a few key¬
strokes and highlight a date or
time using the cursor keys.

—Stan Miastkowski

Zortech’s
Comm Kit

Z ortech’s Comm Toolkit

package is an eye-opening
collection of programs geared
to the programmer involved
with serial-port communica¬
tions and anxious to get on
with it. Here you’ll find func¬
tions that cover the entire
range of communications
complexities: from rudimen¬
tary “send-a-byte-out-the-
serial-port” to a single func¬
tion that implements batch
Kermit-protocol transfers.
Zortech provides source code
compatible with Microsoft C
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derstandably) the Zortech C
compiler. If your favorite
compiler isn’t on that list, you
can modify the source code so
your own compiler will not
have an immune reaction.

That’s right, Zortech pro¬
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code, right down to the low-
level library routines.

If you’re going to do any
kind of terminal emulation,
you’re going to need to deal
with screen-driver software.
Here’s where Comm Toolkit
scores again. You’ll find defi¬
nitions for a standard display
as well as a Windows driver.
Also, Zortech includes source
code for ANSI, VT-52, and
VT-100 emulators.

I linked my XT clone and
my AT clone and decided to
test Minicom and Maxicom,
the two communications pro¬
grams in the package. I put the
Zortech programs on one end
and Hyper Access on the other.
Zortech’s programs had trou¬
ble on my Xitses (the MCT-IO
multiserial board from JDR
Microdevices), but they
seemed to do better when I
tried them on the AT clone
with a stock IBM serial card.
Even then, when I changed the
data transfer rate from the
menu in Maxicom, the system
stopped receiving (though,
mysteriously, it could
transmit).

When things worked, I ran
XMODEM and Kermit trans¬
fers in both directions up to
9600 bits per second with
modest throughput. I attribute
the program’s unimpressive
speed to the fact that the
XMODEM and Kermit code
appear to do no explicit record
buffering and therefore suffer
from frequent disk accesses.

I have mixed feelings about
the Zortech Comm Toolkit. If
the bugs get cleaned out,
there’s certainly plenty of us¬
able code here. You might
need to do some work to get the
code compatible with your
serial interface—particularly
if you’re using a nonstandard
clone board. But if you’ve got
some communicating to do
and don’t mind a little low-
level programming, you ought
to check it out.

—Rick Grehan ■

THE FACTS

Zortech Comm Toolkit
$49.95

Requirements:

IBM PC or compatible
with Microsoft Quick C,
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Zortech C compiler;
DOS 2.0 or higher.

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98 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

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OCTOBER 1988 •BYTE 99

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EXPERT ADVICE

Jerry takes a look at
the new version of
Windows and delves
into the history and
functionality of Sprint

T he other day, Mrs. Pournelle
and I were walking in the hills
behind Chaos Manor. When we
came down into the back-road
area, we saw a young man trying to teach
his girlfriend to drive. “That’s the real
test,” Roberta said. “Teaching her to
drive, or teaching her to use a computer,
it’s the real test of true love.”

“Stick shift car, too,” I said.

She shrugged. “All computers are
stick shift.”

I’ve been thinking about that.

Of course, the Macintosh tries to get
away from the “stick shift” image, and it
has a lot of converts. My youngest boy
enters college this fall. He has a Mac
Plus. One of his older brothers wants to
trade his IBM PC AT for a Mac. Both
claim they’re not interested in learning
about computers, they just want to use
them. I remember saying something like
that back when I began this column more
years ago than I want to admit. My friend
and colleague Tom Clancy does all his
work on a Mac and isn’t vaguely inter¬
ested in learning about PCs. Perhaps it’s
valid to think of the Mac as the first auto¬
matic shift machine.

If so, then the PC world is beginning to
breathe down the Mac’s neck.

Windows

I suppose I have to be careful what I say,
lest I get myself involved in Apple’s silly
lawsuit against Microsoft and Hewlett-
Packard; but I’ve just come back from a
Microsoft-sponsored Windows exposi¬
tion, and I can only conclude that Win¬

COMPUTING AT CHAOS MANOR ■ Jerry Pournelle

Stick Shift
or Automatic?

dows is hastening the process of the
“Macintoshization” of the PC. If you
prefer to say that Windows is How imple¬
menting many of the ideas developed at
Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center
(PARC) lo these many years ago, then
partly perfected by Niklaus Wirth, and
finally popularized by Apple’s Macin¬
tosh, feel free. The point is that Windows
consciously attempts to make the PC an
automatic shift computer.

Of course, automatic shifts need cars
that are higher-powered. Same with
computers. If you have an ordinary PC or
XT, I don’t recommend Windows. If you
want multiple applications—sort of like
the Macintosh MultiFinder—and you
have an XT with a hard disk drive and a
good bit of RAM disk as well, DESQ-
view is marginally better than nothing.
Windows isn’t for you; it’s just too slow.

I don’t really recommend either for slow
machines.

If you have an AT, you have more
choices. Windows/286 is Microsoft’s
newest. It isn’t very good at taking ordi¬
nary DOS programs and running them in
the Windows environment. Still, Win¬
dows/286 version 2.10 is a distinct im¬
provement over the older Windows, and
it’s not all that bad. Windows/286 can
run DOS stuff, provided that your AT
computer is fairly vanilla, the program
isn’t too badly behaved, and you hold
your mouth right; but it will be slow,
even if you’ve got a fast system. If all you
want to do is run standard DOS pro¬
grams, you’ll probably be better off with
DESQview.

Windows/386 is better yet. Windows/
386 on an 80386 machine is better than
DESQview on an 80286 machine. On the
other hand, DESQview works spectacu¬
larly better on an 80386 than it does on
an 80286; and Windows/386 is still
slower than I like. There is room for a
difference of opinion. People I respect
like Windows/386 a lot. It certainly is
usable, if slow.

Windows/386 isn’t easy to install. It

doesn’t like a number of EGA cards (Or¬
chid and Paradise seem to be all right).
The Setup program takes quite a long
time, and if you have to make any
changes in your installation, you must
start all over again. This can be quite
annoying.

When you’re installing Windows/386,

I advise you to throw away your AUTO¬
EXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files. Win¬
dows/386 will construct new ones. Let it.
Don’t set up any buffers, or environ¬
ment, or paths, or anything else while
you’re trying to get Windows/386 going.
Then, when you have Windows/386 up
and running, you can tweak the start-up
files to see what you can get away with.

You want to be real careful about what
DOS you’re running, too; I’m still get¬
ting DOS version incompatibility errors
in Windows/386 long after I thought I’d
eliminated all possible sources of such
errors. I still don’t understand that; it
could be that I’ve added something odd
to my CONFIG.SYS file or tried to use
DOS extensions for the CD-ROM reader.

If you have a very vanilla system and
don’t use networking, running ordinary
programs under Windows does have
some advantages. Windows has conve¬
nient features, like its own pop-up note¬
book and calculator (but no calendar),
and it does make switching from one pro¬
gram to another a lot easier (although not
easier than DESQview). Where Win¬
dows—/286 or /386—really shines,
though, is running programs developed
especially for use with Windows. Some
of those work spectacularly well. The
Windows screens are laid out well and
are as easy to understand as any Mac
screen. Windows screens are more cus¬
tomizable, too.

I’m just beginning to collect software
that’s been specially adapted to work
with Windows. Most of it, like Microsoft
Excel and MacInTax PC, comes with a
run-time package so that you don’t really
need Windows; but it’s much better if

continued

OCTOBER 1988 • B Y T E 101

CHAOS MANOR

you have Windows and are familiar with
it. Windows/386 running programs
adapted for Windows runs like lightning,
and it does all the things the Macintosh
MultiFinder is supposed to do but hasn’t
quite perfected.

When I’m using Windows to run pro¬
grams like Excel and MacInTax, I under¬
stand why Apple was so terrified of Win¬
dows that they brought in the lawyers.
The interface is at least as good as
Apple’s; indeed, many will think Win¬
dows does the integration of mouse and
keyboard better than the Macintosh does.
The various operations are smooth and
intuitive. Better yet, you don’t give any¬
thing up; you can still use DOS with its
wild-card commands.

We did notice that, probably because
of the lawsuit, Windows no longer has
“TRASH” as the place to put deleted
files. The legend under the icon (which
doesn’t look like Apple’s Trash) now
says “GARBAGE.” Roberta suggested
they have an icon of the kitchen sink and
label it “DISPOSALL,” which inspired
me to think up a large vortex with the
label “BLACK HOLE.” Apparently,
Apple is adamant about owning the
Trash, and nearly everyone is willing to
let Apple have it if they want it so bad.

We made that suggestion at the Hew¬
lett-Packard booth at the Windows show.
Hewlett-Packard has a Windows adapta¬
tion called NewWave. The demonstrator
chuckled and called in the icon editor.
Within a couple of minutes, he had a
kitchen sink labeled “DISPOSALL,”
and he was starting in on the “BLACK
HOLE. ” I didn’t get much chance to look
at NewWave, but from what I did see, I
was impressed.

I wasn’t much of a Windows fan when
the program was first introduced, but I
can see how I might become one if they
can get enough programs adapted for it.
Windows doesn’t yet do much with de¬
vices like CD-ROM drives—Microsoft
Bookshelf is a pain to get going in the
same window with your word processor,
but then it’s a pain to get DESQview to
handle it, too.

Microsoft tells software developers
that the best way to learn to write soft¬
ware for OS/2 and Presentation Manager
is to begin with Windows. From what
I’ve seen, if you’re developing new soft¬
ware, you might want to seriously con¬
sider adapting your stuff for Windows,
no matter what you think of OS/2.

They are going to have to speed things
up, though. I suspect the way to do that
will be with faster video boards. Most of
the wait comes from having Windows
draw stuff on your screen.

Windows hasn’t yet got us out of the
stick shift era, but it looks like the next
revision just may do it.

Actor

One program that has been adapted for
Windows is the Actor language. This is
one of the family of languages that in¬
cludes Smalltalk: you have data classes,
and you send messages to them; then they
do things, like make new windows with
certain features, or put images on the
screen, or do calculations. Actor is inter¬
active and compiles as you write it, pro¬
ducing threaded code like Forth; but it’s
said to be a great deal easier to learn, and
to use, than Forth.

I don’t know. My only exposure to Ac¬
tor was in a demonstration at the Win¬
dows seminar. I was impressed, but then
one is often impressed by demonstra¬
tions; the acid test will be to see if I can
write programs with it when I get it here.
I will say that it sure looked like it under¬
stood how to interact with Windows; I
watched them create several small pro¬
grams to my specifications, and it
seemed like child’s play. More when I
know more, but my first impression is
that Actor and Windows may be made for
each other. If you’re a language collector
or if you’re seriously interested in Win¬
dows, take a look at Actor.

Special Days and
Footprints in History

An outfit called The Salinon Corpora¬
tion has a series of programs called the
“Life and Times” series. One program is
called Special Days: you put in data, say
someone’s name, birthplace, and birth-
date. The program looks things up in its
databases, trundles out a printout that
wishes the subject a happy birthday, then
proceeds to report on things like what
happened on that day in history; who else
was born in the subject’s home state;
what popular songs were current the year
the person was born; even prices of
goods, like eggs and bicycles, back then.

It will do the same for anniversaries: it
prints out your names, some congratula¬
tions, and then a summary of what things
were like at 5-year intervals since you
were married. (Incidentally, make sure
you have the proper date set in your com¬
puter; it uses the system’s date in its mes¬
sage calculations.)

I wasn’t terribly impressed with the
program, but just for the heck of it I fed it
Roberta’s birthday and our anniversary,
printed the results, and gave the printouts
to her. Apparently, she rather liked
them. I don’t know if she’d have liked it
so much if I’d paid the full $39.95 they

want for the program, but possibly; and
of course you can use it to generate birth¬
day cards for all your friends.

There’s nothing to using Special
Days; there’s a manual, but I can’t think
why you’d want to look into it. Every¬
thing is explained on-screen, and if you
do get stuck—which isn’t easy—there’s
plenty of context-sensitive help. It’s a
really neat user interface.

I also have Salinon’s Footprints in
History. This is a more complicated pro¬
gram with much the same user interface.
What you do is input someone’s name,
date of birth, and any other events (with
dates) in the subject’s life. The more
dated events you can put in (entering
school, graduations, marriage, children
born, whatever), the better.

The output is a chronological table.
The events come out unchanged (except
that it tells you what day of the week
things happened on); but they’re em¬
bedded in other events. You might have:
July 19, 1969, Alfred E. Neuman flunks
third grade again; July 20, 1969, Neil
Armstrong is the first man to walk on the
moon; and stuff like that. The Alfred E.
Neuman (or whomever you’re making
this up for) events are put in by you; the
others come from the program’s data¬
bases. (Most people would probably be a
bit more dignified in picking events in
Alfred E. Neuman’s life.)

My major criticism with these pro¬
grams is there’s no way to add items to
the program’s databases. You go with
what they furnish. Also, it’s not clear to
me what algorithm they use to select the
order and importance of events: I used
the “Special Day” feature of Special
Days to prepare a report on July 20,
1969, and while it did tell me this was the
day Neil Armstrong walked on the
moon, the event it put up first was “ Yoko
Ono marries John Lennon. ”

Who knows, maybe Lennon’s mar¬
riage was more important than the first
trip to the moon, but you’ll never con¬
vince me of that.

FastTRAP

I must have said a hundred times that I’m
not fond of mice. I can never find the
mouse, to begin with. The darned fool
things are always getting buried. Once
my mouse was completely buried under
enough paper that the left-hand key was
pressed down by the weight of the stuff
on top of it. This caused weird problems
when the machine was powered up and
the AUTOEXEC.BAT file brought in DESQ¬
view. It took me 10 minutes to figure out
what was wrong with my computer.

continued

102 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Order Status,

Technical & Other
Info. (602) 246-2222
FAX #(602) 246-7805

Call for programs not listed

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purchase is over $500! 1) MIXED BAG. 2) PC-WRITE. 3) FONT-SET. 4) ABC-LIST.

- SOFTWARE-

Accounting |

Dac Easy Acct. 3.0.Low Price

Dac Easy Light.$39

Dac Easy Payroll.Low Price

Dollars & $ense .94

In House Acct.112

Managing Your Money 4.0.117

Communication Programs

Brooklyn Bridge Universal .$75

Carbon Copy Plus.108

Crosstalk XVI.89

Crosstalk MK4.110

Flying Dutchman .64

PC Anywhere III.96

Languages

Microsoft Pascal .$176

Microsoft Quick Basic 4.0.59

Microsoft Quick C.Call

Ryan McFarlan Fortran.390

Ryan McFarlan Cobol.612

Turbo Basic .Call

Turbo C 1.5 .59

Turbo Pascal .Call

Turbo Prolog.90

Multi-User Software

Fox Base + .$299

Microsoft Word.195

Word Perfect 5.0.339

Word Perfect Modules .ea 75

Data Base Managers

Clipper .$370

Condor 3.325

Data Perfect.Low Price

DBase III Plus.375

DB-XL Diamond.115

Fox Base Plus.194

Genifer .189

Paradox 2.0 Premium .435

PFS: Pro File.139

Powerbase.169

Q&A3.0 .Call

Quicksilver Diamond.329

Revelation Advanced .485

R Base For DOS.425

Reflex .90

Relate & Report.112

VP Info.65

Desktop Publishing

Pagemaker Ver. 3.0.$475

PFS: First Publisher 2.0.73

Ventura Publisher .489

Graphics

Boeing Graphics.$200

Chartmaster.199

Design Cad 2D & 3D.148

Diagram Master.199

Easy Cad .109

Generic Cad.49

In-A-Vision .270

Microsoft Chart 3.0 .225

Newsroom Pro.65

Printshop.33

Integrated

Ability Plus.

.$145

Enable.

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.79

Smart System .

.405

Symphony .

]

Languages

Lattice C Compiler.$220

Microsoft C Compiler Ver. 5.0.Call

Microsoft Fortran Ver. 4.1.260

Microsoft Macro Assembler Ver. 5.1 88

Project Manager

Microsoft Project.$305

Super Project Plus.255

Timeline 3.0 .323

Total Havard Man. 2.355

Spreadsheet

Lotus 1-2-3.$280

Microsoft PC Excel .273

Quattro .143

Surpass.329

Twin.35

VP Planner Plus.88

Utilities

Core Fast.Low Prices

Copy II PC.$19

Copywrite.39

Cubit .39

Desqview2.01 .72

Direct Access.49

Eureka.Call

Fastback Plus.89

Formtools .56

Graph in the Box 2.Call

Mace.55

Microsoft Windows 286 Ver. 2.1 — 59

Norton Advanced.75

Norton Utilities .48

PC Tools Deluxe.37

Prokey 4.0.70

Q DOS II .49

Righwriter.75

Sidekick Plus .115

Sideways.39

SQZ Plus.55

Superkey.55

Lightening.79

XTree.35

Word Processing

Microsoft Word 4.0.$185

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Q and A Write.110

Webster Spellcheck.37

Word Perfect Ver. 5.0.Call

Word Perfect Executive.124

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Wordstar Pro.233

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Accessories L

Copy II PC Deluxe Bd.$101

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Logical Connection.429

Mach III Joystick.36

Masterpiece.85

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150 Watt Power Supply.69

Boards

AST

Rampage/2 .Call

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EVEREX

2MB Above PC/XT w/o Mem .79

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Ram Quest Extra PS/2.Call

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Above PC 64K .225

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Orchid Tiny Turbo.289

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Hard Cards

Plus 20 MB.$529

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Hard Drives

Seagate 20 MB w/cont.Call

Seagate 30 MB w/cont.Call

Seagate 40 MB AT 251-2.$399

Seagate 80 MB AT.579

Seagate ST-125 w/cont.329

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Priam .Call

Monitors

AMDEK

410 Amber.$145

MAGNAVOX

RGB.255

SIGMA

Laserview + 19".Call

SAMSUNG

Flat Amber.Call

TTL Amber w/tilt.76

Color w/tilt.249

Viking.Call

EVEREX

286,10MHz, 0 Wait.$1149

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710 w/o Monitor.Call

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PC 4501 .$765

PC 4502 .Call

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T1000 .799

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Super Sport 286/20MG .Call

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Printers

CITIZEN

MSP 40.$285

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LQ 500.349

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LASERS

Other Lasers .Call

ASTTURBOPS .Call

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OKI 320 .Call

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AZ 24001NT w/o Soft .$129

Everex 300/1200 w/Soft.69

Everex 2400 EXT, Error Cor..189

Hayes 1200 EXT w/o soft .299

Hayes 1200B 1 NT w/Soft .289

Hayes 2400 EXT w/o Soft.435

Novation Parrot 1200 w/Soft.99

U.S. Robotics 2400 w/o Soft.335

Mice

Genius.$49

Logitech .68

Microsoft Bus w/Paintbrush .92

Microsoft Serial .92

Optimouse w/Dr Halo .89

Optimouse w/DPE.185

EGA Monitors

Casper .$410

Princeton Ultra Scan.539

Mitsubishi Diamond Scan.509 1

NEC-Multisync II.609

Zenith 14" Flat Screen.650

TERMS: Shipping mininmum is $5.00. AZ orders +6.7% sales tax. Personal check/company check -
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Servicing our PC buyers with Phone Hours:

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Circle 272 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 103

CHAOS MANOR

ATTENTION:

dBASE III PLUS

Programmers & Developers

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little as 2K of disk space! Typical Programs take 5-30K.

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combine the power and verstility of the dBASE III PLUS programming
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For Sales Information, Please Call (800) 356-6356

dBFast, FoxBASE+/Mac, Macintosh, and dBASE III PLUS are trademarks of dBFast, Inc.,

Fox Software, Apple Computers.Inc,. and Ashton-Tate, respectively.

Mice are inconvenient, and often I’ve
wished for some kind of trackball ar¬
rangement. Now I have one.

FastTRAP is a neat little trackball sys¬
tem with three buttons (see “Four Surro¬
gate Mice” by Jeff Holtzman in the Au¬
gust BYTE). It comes with software
capable of emulating any mouse you’re
accustomed to, and it does all that very
well. MicroSpeed also encloses a little
booklet illustrating 101 things you can
do with your old mouse, including using
the cord as a noose to hang your cat.

The FastTRAP trackball comes with a
DB-25 connector. The MicroSpeed ex¬
ecutives seemed nonplussed when I ex¬
plained that most AT machines come
with DB-9s on their serial ports. Micro-
Speed does sell, at extra cost, a cable
adapter that will let you plug FastTRAP
into your AT’s DB-9 port.

FastTRAP has a good hefty feel to it.
The box is a bit thick for my taste. I’d
have preferred it not to stand quite so
high off the table, but that’s certainly a
matter of taste. It’s not impossibly high,
and indeed I can think of reasons for
making it the height it is.

If you’re doing CAD-type work, Fast¬
TRAP may be exactly what you’re look¬
ing for. There are two models; one has a
wheel in addition to the trackball. The
wheel is used for three-dimensional data
control, as in a CAD program.

For CAD and similar work, Fast¬
TRAP is at least as good as a mouse, and
most will probably find it a lot better.
Control is smooth and precise, and it’s a
lot easier to move the cursor across long
distances. Just as a trackball is superior
to a joystick for many games, it’s much
better than a mouse for a number of busi¬
ness operations.

What you can’t do with a trackball is
use it as an ordinary mouse. In my judg¬
ment, FastTRAP will never replace the
mouse with programs like Windows or
Microsoft Word, because it’s almost im¬
possible to do click-and-drag operations
with a trackball system. I simply cannot
hold down one of the FastTRAP buttons
and simultaneously maneuver the cursor
without using both hands. It isn’t just me.
No one else at Chaos Manor can do it,
either. Human hands just aren’t built that
way.

It’s thoroughly obvious once you think
of it, but I confess this discovery sur¬
prises me, especially since I’ve been a
strong advocate of trackballs for some
time now, and I am still extremely fond
of the WICO SmartCat keyboard with its
integral trackball. (Alas, WICO couldn’t
keep the price down to anything reason-

continued

104 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Circle 76 on Reader Service Card

THE PROGRAMMERS SHOP

helps save time, money, and cut frustrations. Compare, evaluate, and find products.

Translate for Portability, Easier Coding, Faster,
Smaller Code, and No Royalties.

These are the reasons to translate from one
source language to another.

Each of these products translates up to 85% -
95% of your code automatically. If you want to
cut your conversion time by at least 50%...

Call one of our Tech Reps for help choosing
TODAY.

Order before 10/31/88 and mention “BYA88” for these Special Prices

List

Normal

SPECIAL

Compile 1-2-C - Lotus 1 -2-3 to C

$299

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B AS_C commercial - Basic to C

$375

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386 Development T ools

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419

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139

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Clipper compiler PC $ 389

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1 C Language-Interpreters i

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1 C Libraries-Files \

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| CLibraries-General |

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C Tools Plus - V5.0

C Utilities by Essential

Greenleaf Functions

Turbo C Tools by Blaise

PC $ 99
PC $ 99
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| C-Screens, Windows, Graphics |

thy I

dBASE Graphics for C
ESSENTIAL GRAPHICS - fast
GraphiC - new color version
Greenleaf Data Windows - incl. source
Quick Window/C
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TurboWINDOW/C - for Turbo C
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Dbase Support

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Silver Comm Library MS $ 139

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UI Programmer - user interfaces_ PC $ 249

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Baler PC $ 459

CO/SESSION - remote access PC $ 229

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Disk Technician - smart upkeep PC $ 89

Fast Back Plus PC $ 149

Easy Flow V5.0 PC $ 125

Link & Locate MS $ 309

Mace Utilities MS $ 85

MathCad PC $ 279

MKS RCS MS $ 155

PC/Tools Deluxe-by Custom PC $ 69

Plink 86 PLUS - overlays MS $ 275

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PVCS Personal PC $ 135

R-DOC/X MS $ 135

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Visible Computer: 8088 PC $ 65

WKS Library by Raima PC $ 179

New Greenleaf Library

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functions. Expanded memory interface. Mouse
interface, interrupt processing, and numerous date
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Call for a catalog, literature, and solid value

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^Solution

<E)ystorns

841 Main Street, Suite 410
South Weymouth, MA 02190

617-337-6963

Circle 207 on Reader Service Card

Circle 245 on Reader Service Card

CHAOS MANOR

able and no longer makes that keyboard,
which is a real pity.) Of course, the
WICO trackball keyboard came out well
before click-and-drag became estab¬
lished as a standard mouse operation; I
never had to use the WICO keyboard that
way, or I’d have discovered the difficulty
long ago.

It should be possible to design a track¬
ball that would allow click-and-drag, but
the ball would have to sit to the side of the
buttons, which would preferably be on

the side of the box enclosing the track¬
ball; it’s hard to describe what I’m talk¬
ing about, but imagine a keyboard with a
trackball in the upper right corner (for
right-handed operations) with three but¬
tons on the side of the keyboard where
your fingers would naturally rest if your
thumb were on the ball. This would be at
least as easy to use as a mouse. But I
don’t know of anyone who makes or
plans such a keyboard.

I’ve just discovered that if you install

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FastTRAP as a two-button Microsoft
Mouse, the middle button toggles drag on
and off. This isn’t as convenient as
mouse click-and-drag, but it is possible
to do it, and with time one might find that
better than mouse operations. I’ll try it
for a month and let you know.

Choice Words

A long time ago, Mike Wiener of Micro-
lytics showed me an upcoming product,
which turned out to be WordFinder, a
synonym program based on algorithms
developed at Xerox PARC. Mike thought
there was a terrific product lurking in the
Xerox algorithms, and since PARC
didn’t seem interested in developing it,
he did under a joint venture agreement.

I’ve used WordFinder ever since. It
works fine with the word processors I
like, including Q&A Write; you can even
get WordFinder at a discount when you
buy Q&A Write. I like WordFinder, so
I’ve paid little attention to other thesau¬
rus and dictionary programs, on the
theory that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

That may have been a mistake.

Proximity Technology’s Choice
Words, which is based on the Merriam-
Webster Webster's Dictionary and Web¬
ster's Thesaurus , is at least as good as
WordFinder, and in some ways it is bet¬
ter. Choice Words will tell you what
parts of speech your word may be and of¬
fer definitions by categories. It gives
tenses for irregular verbs. It offers syn¬
onyms under different connotations of
the word.

Installation of Choice Words is utterly
simple. Just run the Install program,
which, so far as I can tell, does nothing
but create a subdirectory and copy the
five disks into it.

Choice Words can be run as a pop-up
program from within your word proces¬
sor or as a stand-alone program. By far
the better way to run it is as a pop-up,
since that lets you use it while editing
documents. There are two ways to do
this. The simplest is to go to the directory
containing Choice Words and type PR0X
to invoke the program. Once that’s done,
you can go to your word processor’s sub¬
directory and bring in your text editor.
The default pop-up keys are Alt/Left
Shift/T for thesaurus and /D for dictio¬
nary. You can change those keys to al¬
most anything you like.

The other way to install the program is
to put its subdirectory in your AUTO¬
EXEC.BAT PATH statement. Either way
works fine. You can also put Choice
Words into the same directory as your
word processor, then bring them both up

continued

106 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

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Circle 261 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 107

CHAOS MANOR

with a batch file. The important thing is
that all the methods work, and I had no
trouble doing them. Like WordFinder, it
works well with DESQview.

Choice Words works with a variety of
word processors, including difficult ones
like Q&A (and Q&A Write) and Micro¬
soft Word. It’s very fast, at least on my
big Cheetah 386, and comparable in
speed to WordFinder on all the machines
we tried it on.

I find I’m not a big user of thesaurus
programs. I practically never use one
when I’m actually writing. On the other
hand, I always load one into the system
when I bring up a text editor, and when
I’m doing a final edit on text, I do call up
the thesaurus sometimes. If I didn’t have
one, I’d buy one; but then, my business is
words. I don’t have to use a tool very
often to justify having it.

As to which one I’d buy, WordFinder
or Choice Words, I confess I don’t know.
They’re both very good. Choice Words
gives you more information, but a conse¬
quence of that is it takes you a bit longer
to use it. WordFinder is fast and nearly
invisible until you want it, and it may
give you all the information you need.

Unlike WordFinder, Choice Words in¬
cludes a very good dictionary program;
if you have any need for an on-line dictio¬
nary (as opposed to a thesaurus), I
haven’t seen anything nearly as good.

If you do much writing, you’ll prob¬
ably want one of these programs. Choice
Words is a good deal more than good
enough. It’s at least equal to the best.

Sprint

Philippe Kahn has been telling me about
Sprint, Borland’s new text editor, for
over a year. Every few months, he’d of¬
fer me a copy; then, just before I got it,
there’d be some new improvement they
wanted to perfect. After a year of this, I
finally got the program from Philippe
himself when I visited him in Scotts Val¬
ley. We used LapLink to squirt it over
from Philippe’s Compaq portable to my
Zenith Z-183.

That may not be the best way to get the
program. I’ve found that demonstrations
by an enthusiast tend to skip over diffi¬
culties that inevitably surface later. That
was surely the case this time.

I don’t have time to go through all the
steps that lead me to this conclusion. Let

me just state it: Sprint is a contender for
the best word processor on the market to¬
day. It’s fast and extremely powerful. It
is almost completely customizable. It
works with PostScript and all the other
advanced stuff that’s coming. It supports
darned near every printer known to man
and is able to make use of many of the
fanciest features, including proportional
spacing, automatic kerning, and the lot.
It does indexing, and it sort of does out¬
lining, although I would be surprised if a
creative writer actually uses the severely
limited outline processor in the current
version. Sprint will make tables of con¬
tents and figures. It will work with short
or long documents.

Sprint has a “swap file” system that
automatically and unobtrusively saves
your work every 30 seconds or so, so that
even with a power failure you won’t have
lost much. I noticed that Philippe rou¬
tinely shuts down his portable simply by
turning it off: no saving his work, no
exiting from Sprint. Just pull the plug in
full confidence that everything will be
there next time you power up. I’m writ¬
ing this on one of the hottest days in the
history of Los Angeles, with power fail-

Freedom of Press

Over the last few years, Adobe Systems has
brought forth some very revolutionary ideas.

Such as the Adobe PostScript'® page
description language. Adobe® Type Library.
Adobe Illustrator 88 T . U The Display PostScript’
system.

Software that gives you the freedom to
create professional-quality reports, news¬

letters, business graphics and more. Using
virtually any kind of computer. IBM® PC.
Macintosh® Mini or mainframe.

That’s why choosing printers with Post¬
Script software is your declaration of vendor
independence. It’s the only standard adopted
by virtually every major company in the com¬
puter industry.

So any computers you have will work
with any printers you buy equipped with Post¬
Script software.

And that means even more choices when
it’s time to print. You can use laser and color
printers. At a variety of resolutions. Or even
professional typesetters.

The Adobe Type Library also gives you

Adobe. Adobe Illustrator and PostScript are registered trademarks and the Adobe logo. Adobe Illustrator 88. Display PostScript and the PostScript logo are trademarks ol Adobe Systems Incorporated. IBM is the registered trademark ol International Business Machines.

108 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

CHAOS MANOR

ures everywhere, so I appreciate a fea¬
ture like that.

Having given my conclusion, let me
add some qualifications. Sprint is not a
text editor for everyone. Some users will
love it. A good many others will really
hate it. To explain why, I’ll have to give
some background.

Sprint was originally based on
EMACS, one of the world’s first full-
page text editors. EMACS was written in
TECO for big multiuser minicomputers
(PDP-10 and PDP-11) at MIT by Rich¬
ard M. Stallman, generally known as
RMS. Stallman, who is famous for his
view that software ought to be free, gave
EMACS away. If he hadn’t, he’d be a
rich man. In its day, EMACS was the
best programming editor in the world.

EMACS was then modified for micro¬
computers by an outfit called Mark of the
Unicorn, and it appeared as a CP/M
commercial product called The Final
Word. Later, they put out a PCompatible
version. Sprint is two generations later
than that.

EMACS was a programmer’s editor. It
was adequate for writing text—indeed, it
was a lot better for that than anything else

available at the time—but it wasn’t de¬
signed by a professional writer. Some ad¬
ditional features were suggested by writ¬
ers, including me, but RMS is the arche¬
typal hacker, and he included in EMACS
everything he could think of. He then
added a programming language that
would let you do all the things he hadn’t
thought of.

The result was a hacker’s dream—and
very nearly a user’s nightmare. Every
key did something; EMACS was the
original source for the joke about pro¬
grams with Control-Alt-meta-cokebottle
commands. The EMACS philosophy was
that you could do anything you wanted if
you would take the trouble to learn how.
Surely you should do some of the work?

I was invited to learn EMACS in the
1970s when I had an ARPANET account
at MIT. There was a TeachEmacs pro¬
gram running on the MIT computer, and
that plus determination got me familiar
enough with the program that I could use
it. I even wrote an early BYTE column
on-line using EMACS, and for a while
there was a notion that Marvin Minsky
and I would write a book together, with
EMACS as the editor of choice.

The Minsky project died because we
both had heavy schedules, and, besides,
you can’t really do a major project at 300
bits per second. Then I lost my AR¬
PANET account. After that, I had no rea¬
son or opportunity to use EMACS until
Mark of the Unicorn brought out their
CP/M version, and they didn’t send me a
copy of that for a year or so.

By then, my mad friend MacLean and
I had induced Tony Pietsch to customize
his WRITE program to our specs. That
was good enough that I wasn’t much
tempted to try anything else as long as I
was using CP/M. When I changed from
CP/M to PCompatibles, I didn’t have
MINCE (MINCE is not a complete
EMACS), or The Final Word, or what¬
ever EMACS had evolved into by then.
Consequently, I haven’t really used
EMACS for 10 years. Then I got Sprint.

A lot of the rough edges have been
knocked off, but Sprint has kept a great
deal of the flavor of EMACS. In particu¬
lar, it retains much of EMACS’s flexibil¬
ity. You don’t reprogram Sprint in the
same way that you would have pro¬
grammed EMACS; indeed, Sprint is

continued

Freedom of Choice.

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PS Jet/PS Jet + ’“ LZFT2665

General Computer
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Apollo Computer Inc.
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Quadram
Quadlaser’" PS

QMS-PS'2400.
QMS*' JetScript'"

choices—literally hundreds of typefaces that
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Adobe Illustrator 88 software gives you
freedom, too.

It lets you easily create anything from sim¬
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Even if you can’t draw a straight line.

And our new Display PostScript software

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So before you invest in any laser printer,
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Macintosh is the registered trademark of Apple Computers. Inc. ©1988 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. This ad was produced using the Adobe Type Library and PostScript printers and typesetters. The illustrations were created with Adobe Illustrator*' software.

Circle 9 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 109

CHAOS MANOR

more awkward in that respect. There’s
no miniwindow in which you can run
miniprograms.

On the other hand, you can build
really elaborate macros, either by put¬
ting them together yourself or by putting
Sprint in learning mode and simply
doing what you want it to learn. There
are features it doesn’t have that I’ve got
in Q&A Write (just because Q&A Write
is easy to use doesn’t mean it isn’t so¬
phisticated and powerful), but that’s
quibbling; the bottom line is that Sprint
has the most elaborate and powerful
macro reprogramming capability of any
editor on the market.

Sprint’s concession to new users is an
elaborate menu system, in which each
menu item lets you call a submenu. It’s
all reminiscent of Wirth’s Lilith operat¬
ing system. There’s a fast way to bypass
the menus once you’re familiar with
Sprint. Until then, you can cascade
through the menus until you find (some¬
times with some difficulty) what you
want Sprint to do, and then have it exe¬
cute the command from within the menu
window.

The menus include a truly amazing se¬
lection of predefined macros and prag¬
mas (sort of a programming primitive
command). There’s a DeleteToLineEnd
pragma, as well as DeleteLine. Either
one can be assigned to any Alt or Control
keystroke you like. There’s also exist
[filename], which returns TRUE if the
program can find a disk file called file¬
name. There’s mark, which will put a
mark in your file. There’s SetLeft-
Indent, and DeleteRegion, and flags,
and I’m sure you get the idea. There are
literally dozens of such pragmas, and in
case you can’t do what you want with
one, you can probably build a macro out
of several to do the job.

In addition to all that, Sprint comes
with a series of preprogrammed setups
that allow it to emulate the command in¬
terface of a dozen other popular text edi¬
tors. Note the emphasis on command ;
Sprint does not, contrary to what you
may infer from Borland’s advertising,
emulate the screen and reporting inter¬
face of any other word processor. Sprint
looks like Sprint no matter what it’s
emulating.

Of course, you can do a lot with
Sprint’s screens, too. Colors are adjust¬
able. So are on-screen margins. Also,
you’re not stuck with what you see on the
screen: Sprint, like Electric Pencil,
WordStar, and WRITE, lets you embed
print formatting commands into the text,
so that what you see isn’t necessarily
what you get. For some people, that’s a

feature. Others, however, will consider
it a bug.

Sprint’s use of embedded formatting
commands means that Sprint files are
clean, plain ASCII with some control
characters. That makes it easy for popu¬
lar writer-assistant programs, such as
Grammatik III and Readability, to ac¬
cess and alter Sprint files. One of my
main difficulties with Q&A Write—
which is what I’m still using—is that it

lot of

the rough edges have
been knocked off, but
Sprint has kept a great
deal of the flavor of
EMACS, an early full-
page text editor.

stores a status word for every line. This
gives Q&A Write great power but makes
it impossible to use any kind of external
program that changes line lengths.
Microsoft Word has much the same diffi¬
culty. Sprint doesn’t.

The good news, in other words, is that
Sprint really has retained the old
EMACS flexibility. You can use it to de¬
sign your own basic interface, then begin
to add macros until you’ve got something
that’s extremely powerful and uniquely
yours, adapted to the kind of work you
do. After a while you’ll have written
your own text editor, one that caters to
your every whim and idiosyncrasy.

The bad news is that Sprint isn’t really
very nice until you’ve done the customi¬
zation. Indeed, when you first set the
program up, it can drive you half out of
your mind. No matter what emulation in¬
terface you adopt, Sprint isn’t going to
work the way you expect it to—not until
you get used to it. Vanilla Sprint is pretty
god-awful, especially if you’re asking it
to emulate something else you’re accus¬
tomed to, because while Sprint in emula¬
tion mode may—more or less—do what
you expect it to when you give it a com¬
mand, it sure won’t look like what you’re
accustomed to seeing while it does it.

Of course, this all reminds me of Xy-
Write, which is also easily customized

and isn’t very useful until you’ve done
that. XyWrite has been around long
enough that there are precustomized spe¬
cialized versions, such as Nota Bene,
adapted for particular purposes. Sprint
is still new, but I predict it won’t take
long before third parties will sell you
Sprint customization packages.

More important, though, is Borland’s
upgrade policy. If you buy a copy of
Sprint now, you can have confidence that
Borland will pay attention to user and re¬
viewer complaints and suggestions,
bring upgrades out in a timely manner,
and not charge you a fortune for the up¬
grades when they’re released. I’ve made
several suggestions that Philippe Kahn
has his people working on, and I’m quite
sure I’m not the only critic he pays atten¬
tion to. As an example, Sprint doesn’t yet
import and export Atex files, but Bor¬
land is working on it.

Sprint makes it pretty easy to change
over from your old word processor, in
that it will import and export files to and
from Display Write, Microsoft Word,
MultiMate, MultiMate Advantage, Wang
IWP, WordPerfect 4.2, WordStar, and
WordStar 2000—and, of course, ASCII.
The conversions are quick and painless.
Even if you hate Sprint, it may be worth
buying for this feature. I have seen con¬
version programs no better than this sell
for more than Sprint does. Of course, it
does not convert Q&A Write files, which
is one reason I’m not using Sprint to
write this column. Maybe a later version
will.

My conclusion on Sprint is that if
you’re a professional writer concerned
with your tools, Sprint is more than
worth looking into.

If you write a lot and aren’t happy with
your current text editor, consider Sprint.

If you’re just getting started using a
computer for writing, don’t start with
Sprint unless you’re prepared to put
some time into it. Sprint was written for
sophisticated users who are prepared to
put some effort into learning it and cus¬
tomizing it. I don’t mean that beginners
can’t use it; but they’re likely to be frus¬
trated for a while. Sprint isn’t as easy to
use as Q&A Write, for example.

If you’re responsible for setting up and
customizing text editors for a whole
bunch of workstations, Sprint is worth
looking into. Assuming you know what
you’re doing, you can customize it for
your establishment. Also, suppose you
have engineers or analysts who prefer to
use their own editor but you want to inte¬
grate their work. Sprint can read in all
their files, merge them, and write out

continued

110 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

...Gives you all the right stuff for debugging! No
matter which model you pick, you have the
same powerful software to help you track down
hard-to-find bugs fast.

What’s New in Periscope
Version 4:

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Periscope’s hardware adds
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The break-out switch lets you
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You can track down a bug
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what’s going on, without
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down and back up. That’s
really useful when your
system hangs! The switch is
included with Periscope 1,

Periscope II, and Periscope III.

Periscope I has a NEW board
with 512K of write-protected RAM, user-expandable to 1MB, for the Periscope software,

symbol tables, and all related debugging information. Normal DOS memory
(the lower 640K) is thus totally freed up for your application, and Periscope
is protected from being overwritten by a run-away program. The new
board’s footprint is only 32K, so you can use it in PC, AT, and 386 systems
with EGA/VGA and EMS boards installed (not possible with the previous
56K board). It can also be used with Periscope III to provide additional
write-protected memory.

Periscope 111 has a board with 64K of write-protected RAM to store the
Periscope software and as much additional information as will fit. AND...

The Periscope III board adds another powerful dimension to your
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to find, or can’t find at all!

The NEW Periscope I
memory board keeps all debugging
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Circle 199 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 111

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(714) 538-0929

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1 YEAR WARRANTY PARTS & LABOR ALL ITEMS IN STOCKI

PRICES SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE
CALL FOR OTHER CONFIGURATIONS'

■ JO 04T ROW 1 IIM* nURMHlt

mull CORFU II SAtlSI ACTIIIN IS OUR IIIP PRI11RITV ANY SUNIR0HIC SYSIIM MM 01
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ANO PACKAGING MUST BE INCLUDED HETUHN SHIPPING MUST BE PREPAID AND INSURED,
BEARING A TIMA (RETURN MATERIAL AUTHORISATION. ON THE SHIPPING LABEL

CHAOS MANOR

files in an alternate file format.

If you’re a programmer, Sprint is very
much worth looking into. After all, it
was designed by the hacker’s hacker. At
the moment, Sprint doesn’t really
“understand” very many computer lan¬
guages; but the macro capability is
powerful enough that it won’t be long be¬
fore people teach it to, say, look for
unbalanced parentheses in BASIC, un¬
closed parentheticals in Lisp, improperly
structured procedures in Pascal, and that
sort of thing. I know Sprint can do this,
because there have been language-spe¬
cific configurations of EMACS for at
least 10 years.

If you write a lot, you’re happy with
what you have, you don’t want to custom¬
ize, and you’ll be blasted before you’ll
spend the time to learn how to set up and
use yet another word processor, ignore
Sprint.

If you’re furiously busy (as I am),
pretty well satisfied with your current
text editor (as I am), but wish you could
teach it to do other tricks (as I do), then
it’s worth getting Sprint to play with and
begin the—sometimes painful—process
of customization (as I am doing).

Borland’s new word processor is rec¬
ommended, with qualifications.

Lascaux:

“The Intelligent Calculator”

I get about a hundred programs a week. I
can’t possibly look at them all, but since
I do try to balance this column, I periodi¬
cally sift through piles. What I’m look¬
ing for is something new and different,
and preferably published by someone you
never heard of. After all, that’s the way I
discovered Turbo Pascal. Alas, I’m
much more likely to discover Lascaux
than another Turbo Pascal.

I don’t think Lascaux is a potential
Turbo Pascal, but it is more interesting
than much of the garbage I get. It’s a sci¬
entific calculator program; what makes
it more than Yet-Another-Program is its
handling of units (e.g., feet/meters and
kilograms/pounds). According to the
thin but readable instructions, you can
teach Lascaux almost any units you like,
after which it will convert as required
when it calculates. Since it also does
logs, trig, and fractional exponents, this
looked like something pretty useful. I
don’t do as many orbital calculations as I

used to, but I do try to keep my hand in.

Back in my aerospace days, we once
converted the cruising speed of the TFX
fighter (which became the FB-111) into
furlongs per fortnight. I thought it might
be fun to do that again, and Lascaux
looked to be the tool to do it with.

Well, it will do it, but it’s more work
than I thought it would be. First, you
have to install Lascaux. This isn’t a mat¬
ter of copying some files. The silly pro¬
grammer has made it much more compli¬
cated than that. You tell the Install
program on the distribution disk what op¬
tions you want, and it generates a work¬
ing version of Lascaux for you. The op¬
tions are with and without math chip, and
memory-resident or stand-alone. Why
they don’t include all four and let you
manage by selective copying and renam¬
ing files I don’t know.

Once you’ve got this thing installed,
you may be tempted to copy the Tutorial
program into the same directory as
you’ve put the main program. Do not do
this. The Tutorial disk contains files that
have the same names as Lascaux regular
files, but which are brain-damaged. The

continued

112 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

S P
E D

E C I A

Circle 295 on Reader Service Card

SYSTEMS represents the state of the art in
computers and communications. The 11th inter¬
national trade fair and congress will be held
in Munich in 1989. SYSTEMS is an absolute must
for the entire DP industry. Highly qualified
experts and decision-makers, distributors,
buyers and OEMs from all over the world
gather information at SYSTEMS on modern
communications technology and applications.
Make contacts that are worthwhile! In 1987
alone, there were 146,000 visitors to the trade
fair. SYSTEMS 89 offers the right setting for
optimum product presentation and for profit¬
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If you need further information, simply ring:
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Great Britain, Phone 01-948 5166/940 4625,
USA, Phone (201) 652-7070, Japan, Phone
(03) 593-1641 (Tokyo), (06) 447-0021 (Osaka).

Computers and Communications
llth International Trade Fair and
International Congress
Munich, 16-20 October 1989

MESSE MUNCHEN

INTERNATIONAL

CHAOS MANOR

unit tables are all scrambled up. After
you run the Tutorial program (and you
had better run it, because Lascaux’s user
interface is quite hostile and rude into the
bargain) and then try to run the program
itself, it won’t know what you’re doing,
and if you try to examine the units it
thinks it understands, you’ll see only
garbage. The only remedy is to go back
and run Install again.

After that, you’ve got to do some defi¬
nitions. Lascaux understands what a
“sec” is, but if you want something per
second, you’ll have to tell it that 1 second
is one sec. It knows “ft” but not “foot.”
There are other bothersome omissions.

If you’re trying to define complex
units, you can really go nuts. Although
Lascaux has some units that have spaces
in them—Light Year is an example—if
you want to define something as, say,
furlongs/fortnight, you must not type in
the “/”; instead, you just put in a space
and hope that the program infers what
you want.

Once you get past the badly designed
user interface, Lascaux actually works
pretty well. It’s fast. There are built-in
units and constants. Oddly enough, how¬

ever, “Speed of Light” is a constant (in
meters/second—or as Lascaux would
have it, meters sec), not a unit. You can’t
define the unit “c” as Speed of Light be¬
cause “C” is defined as a coulomb, and
apparently the program isn’t case-sensi¬
tive unless it wants to be. I see I’m com¬
plaining again.

There is a rather badly documented
“rename” feature; judicious use of that
will solve a fair number of this pro¬
gram’s problems. Indeed, the program
itself is better than my impressions of it,
which proves that if you’re going to mar¬
ket programs, you probably ought to put
a good bit more time into editing the pro¬
gram documents and smoothing the user
interface than most programmers do.

I do find Lascaux useful; perhaps I
ought to revive my old classification of
“infuriatingly excellent.”

Incidentally, the speed of light is
1,802,617,752,326.41 furlongs/fort¬
night.

MacMadness

We had a party here last night, and my
son Alex’s friend Clydene Nee brought
up some University of California at San

Diego public domain programs for my
Mac II. (Available on most Mac bulletin
boards, or bug Alex to get them onto
BIX.) Now when I turn on the machine, I
get ruffles of drums, the Twentieth Cen¬
tury Fox fanfare, and barking dogs. It’s
great sound, amazingly good quality for
such a little speaker; indeed, it’s good
enough that I’m going to treat my Mac II
to a real speaker and sound system.
There are other fun programs, too.

One of the guests at the party was
Kelly Freas, probably the best-known il¬
lustrator in the science fiction world. I’m
rather proud of the book covers he’s done
for me. Kelly and his new bride Laura
(she’s at our local good music station,
and on the air right now) were wondering
what they should get for a computer,
given that they’ll need it to run his busi¬
ness. I thought about that all night.

I’m recommending a Mac II. For ar¬
tistic work, Kelly would probably be bet¬
ter off with an Amiga; but I can’t recom¬
mend that machine to him for his
business. It’s not that the Amiga can’t do
the job, it’s just that neither Kelly nor
Laura have much experience with small
computers, and I’m afraid the Amiga
isn’t reliable enough unless you know a
lot about the machine. The Mac II is just
more stable.

I could have recommended a good
80386 PCompatible like the Zenith, es¬
pecially now that Soft View has put out
MacInTax in a PCompatible (Windows)
version; but that’s a stick shift machine.
Mostly though, I think Kelly will just
plain have more fun with a Mac.

I did notice that at my party people
stood in line to play with the Amiga.

Winding Down

I’m out of space and there’s still tons of
new stuff. I have a new Vega VGA board
from Video Seven that’s said to support
Windows/386 at blazing speeds; I can’t
wait to try it. There’s Shoebox, a pro¬
gram that’s supposed to help you manage
small businesses (the kind that stuff re¬
ceipts and notes into shoe boxes) and is
spoken highly of by people I respect.
There’s a whole raft of scientific and en¬
gineering programs from MacNeal-
Schwendler. They do practical problems
like heat transfer, flight dynamics, and
civil engineering, and a number of pro¬
fessionals swear by them.

I’ve got new facsimile and CD-ROM
equipment for my Mac II.

The book of the month is by Robert
Forward and Joel Davis, Mirror Matter
from Wiley. Bob Forward is senior fel¬
low emeritus at Hughes Research Lab-

continued

UTAH

COBOL

NEW

VERSION 5.0

For IBM® PC’s, XT’s, AT’s and other DOS machines. Needs only 1 disk
drive and 128K memory. This is the one you’ve heard so much about - with
fast compile times, small object code modules, not copy protected, no
royalties, and clear error messages. Version 5.0 is based upon ANSI-74
standards with new dynamite features including:

• Nested IF’s and nested conditions.

• Indexed files (ISAM) with up to 24 keys (includes START verb). This
advanced feature requires the software package Btrieve® which is
optionally available.

• ACCEPT (line, column) numerics with decimal point alignment, numeric
checking, AUTO-SKIP, SECURITY, LENGTH-CHECK, EMPTY-CHECK, ATTRIBUTE (color), FROM ES¬
CAPE KEY, DAY, DATE, TIME, DAY-OF-WEEK.

• Fast memory mapped DISPLAY’S (line, column) ERASE, BEEP, ATTRIBUTE (color). Can display
entire screen with one DISPLAY statement.

• Windowing, pop-ups, color and overlays. This advanced feature requires the software package
Saywhat?!™ which is optionally available.

• An easy to use, COBOL source code EDITOR with auto line numbering, A-margin, B-margin tabing with
full screen cursor control.

Also available: Utah SuperSort®, a fast sort program callable from Utah COBOL; Utah FORTRAN; Utah
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Reno, Nevada 89502

IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines, Inc. Btrieve is a registered trademark of Novell. Inc.
Saywhat?! is a trademark of The Research Group. SuperSort is a registered trademark of Micropro International Corporation.
Utah COBOL is a trademark of Ellis Computing, Inc. © 1987 Ellis Computing, Inc.

114 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Circle 91 on Reader Service Card

Great Selection+Superior Service s a
+ Competitive Prices=Top Value Mk

We have the technical
expertise to fulfill your
specialized needs in soft¬
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design, data analysis, CAD
and much more. Call today!

* No one offers you more variety.

* 30-day Money-Back Guarantee 0

• Latest versions

• Over 500 name-brand products in
stock, if you don't see it — call!

High C, Metaware. 839

NDP FORTRAN, Microway. 529

PharLap 386 ASM/LINK . 409

386 SOFTWARE

DESOview, Quarterdeck.$ 115

Microport —Sys. V/386 Comp. 769

MS Windows/386. Microsoft. 130

PC MOS/386, Software Link. CALL

VM/386, IGC. 182

SCO XENIX SYS V 386 (complete) 1279

Software Development Tools

rnmsm

GOTO

Essential Graphics.

Graphic, Software Endeavors.

GSS Graphics Dev. Toolkit

HALO '88, Media Cybernetics.

HOOPS, Ithaca Software.

MetaWINDOW, Metagraphics.

MetaWINDOW PLUS

Turbo WINDOW/C

Turbo HALO, Media Cybernetics..

229

322

409

229

554

162

232

ASSEMBLERS

ADVANTAGE Disassembler, Lifeboat.$ 279

Microsoft Macro Assembler. 99

OPTASM, SLR Systems. 109

Visible Computers. .80286 90

Flash-up, Software Bottling Co. $ 80

MS Basic Comp. 6.0 199

MS QuickBASIC. 69

QuickPak, Crescent Software. 60

T BASIC, TransEra Corp. 453

Turbo Basic, Borland. 69

Turbo Basic Toolboxes, Borland. 69

C-terp, Gimpel.$ 232

Lattice C. 289

w/Source. 499

Microsoft C. 299

QuickC, Microsoft. 69

Turbo C, Borland. 69

C TOOLS PLUS 5.0, Blaise.$ 101

C Utility Library, Essential. 125

Essential Communications. 125

Greenleaf Turbo Functions 79

Greenleaf Comm Library. 169

Greenleaf Functions. 155

Greenleaf SuperFunctions 179

PforCe, Phoenix. 215

TimeSlicer. Lifeboat. 279

TURBO C TOOLS, Blaise 101

MS COBOL, Microsoft.$ 599

Realia COBOL 794

RM/COBOL-85, Austec. 999

SCREENIO, Norcom. 382

MS Pascal, Microsoft.$ 199

Turbo Pascal, Borland. 69

Professional Pascal, Metaware. 549

Turbo Pascal Dev. Lib., Borland.$ 289

Metrabyte D&A TOOLS, Quinn-Curtis . . 90

Turbo Pascal S & E Tools, Quinn-Curtis .. 69

Turbo HALO, Media Cybernetics. 80

Turbo MAGIC, Sophisticated Software... 179

Turbo ASYNCH PLUS, Blaise. 101

Turbo Power Tools Plus, Blaise. 101

LOGITECH Modula-2

Compiler Kit $ 81

Development System. 199

Toolkit. 141

StonyBrook Modula-2. 179

386-Max, Qualitas. $ 66

ADVANTAGE 386 C. Lifeboat 839

FoxBASE + /386 459

Periscope III.$ 1143

OTHER Periscope Products CALL

Advanced Trace-86. Morgan Computing.. 121

Breakout, Essential. 89

Tdebug PLUS V.4.0, Turbo Power Soft... 39

w/Source. 80

Pfix86plus, Phoenix. 215

OBJECT-ORIENTED LANGUAGES

ACTOR, Whitewater Group.

AD VANTAGE C+ + , Lifeboat

PforCe + + , Phoenix.

Smalltalk/V, Digitalk.

Smalltalk/V286.

..$ 439
.. 479

.. 215

85
.. 169

EDIX, Emerging Technology

EMACS, Unipress.

Epsilon, Lugaru.

KEDIT, Mansfield.

MULTI-EDIT, American Cybernetics.

Norton Editor.

PC/EDT +, Boston Business Computing

PI Editor, Iliad Group.

SPF/PC, Command Technology.

VEDIT PLUS, CompuView.

FILE MANAGERS

CALL

169

268

151

120

269

165

185

131

Btrieve, Novell.$ 185

Xtrieve. 189

Report Option 109

Btrieve/N, Novell.$ 455

CBTREE, Peacock System. 141

c-tree, Faircom. 318

r-tree. 241

dBC III, Lattice. 172

dBC Ill/ll w/Source 363

dBC III PLUS 599

db.VISTA OR db.QUERY, Raima. CALL

XQL, Softcraft. 599

ADVANTAGE Graphics, Lifeboat $ 229

OPERATING SYSTEMS

Microport DOS Merge.$ 219

Microport Sys V/AT. 549

SCO XENIX System V 979

Wendin-DOS 2.15. 109

Other Microport, SCO, Wendin Products CALL

SCREENS/WINDOWS

C Scape, Oakland Group.$ 282

Greenleaf Data Windows. 219

MS Windows, Microsoft. 69

MS Windows Develop. Kit, Microsoft. 319

PANEL Plus, Lifeboat. 395

PANEL /QC or /TC. 99

Vitamin C, Creative Programming. 149

Windows for Data, Vermont Creative. 259

ScreenStar w/Source, Essential. 169

SoftCode, Software Bottling Co. 119

Turbo POWER SCREEN. 101

OTHER PRODUCTS

Advanced Norton Utilities. $ 99

Dan Bricklin's Demo Program II . 179

MKS Toolkit. 139

MS OS/2 Programmer's Toolkit 239

PC lint, Gimpel. 101

Plink8bPlus, Phoenix. 279

PolytronPVCS CORPORATE 359

Pre-C, Phoenix. 159

SEIDL Version Manager 269

Source Print, Aldebaran Labs. 81

Science & Engineering Software

CIRCUIT DESIGN/SCHEMATIC CAPTURE

HiWIRE, WintekCorp.$ 849

MICRO-CAP II, Spectrum Software. 759

PSpice, MicroSim. 899

Device Equations Source. 309

Probe graphics post-processor 399

Parts parameter estimator 399

Monte Carlo Analysis . 309

Digital Files. 309

Schema II, Omation. 449

smARTWORK, Wmtek Corp. 849

Tango PCB, ACCEL Tech. 469

Tango Route. 469

Tango Schematic 469

Tango Tools . 279

DATA ACQUISITION/SIGNAL ANALYSIS

Asyst 2.9.$2,179

Asyst Modules 1, 2, 3.1.989

Asyst Modules 1,2, 4.1.989

Asyst Module 1,2.1.609

AsystantPlus. 849

Asystant GPIB. 629

Asystant. 469

DADISP, DSP Systems. 749

DADISP-488 . 175

Fourier PERSPECTIVE II, Alligator. 329

HYPERSIGNAL, Hyperception. 309

HYPERSIGNAL Plus 439

LABTECH Acquire, Lab Tech. Corp. 179

LABTECH CHROM,. 709

LABTECH Notebook,. 759

LABTECH Real Time Access, 269

Lotus Measure. 445

QED D.A. and Control, Hart Scientific ... 799

SNAP-CALC, HEM Data Corp. 350

SNAP-FFT . 295

SNAPSHOT STORAGE SCOPE 495

UnkelScope Junior. Unkel Software. 109

UnkelScope Level 1. 315

UnkelScope Level 2+. 499

MathCAD 2.0, MathSoft. 282

Math Mate, MCAE Technologies. 89

muMATH, Soft Warehouse. 189

SolvelT!, Structured Scientific Software 79

Solver-Q, SDDC. 79

TKISolver Plus, Universal Tech Sys. 379

AutoCAD, by Autodesk.$ CALL

Autosketch, by Autodesk. 65

Speed Enhanced Version. 79

Design CAD, American Small Bus. Comp 219

Drafix 1 Plus, Foresight. 239

Drafix 3-D Modeler, Foresight. 169

EASYCAD, Evolution Computing. 139

ECAD, Pelton Engineering. 699

FASTCAD, Evolution Computing.1,849

Generic CADD 69

Generic 3-D Solid Modeling. 159

3-D Rendering Module 119

Other Generic Software Products CALL

ln°A°Vision. Micrografx. 459

Windows Draw w/Clip Art 239

Windows Graph 319

LaserCAD, DSL Link. 89

PRO-3D/PC, Enabling Technologies. 355

TurboCAD, MSA Group. 79

For Math, Shantha Software. 379 System ID Toolbox. 459

Lotus Manuscript. 445 POINT FIVE, Pacific Crest. 279

PC TEX, Personal TEX. 229 The Professional Wheel, Dalin Inc. 199

T3 Sci. Word Proc., TCI Software Res. .. 499 Units, Curtis Technical Soft. 25

ABstat, Anderson Bell.$ 315

CSS, StatSoft. 469

Microstat II. Ecosoft. 319

NWA STATPAK, Northwest. 359

P-STAT. 659

The Scientific Wheel, Dalin Inc. 99

SPSS/PC +. 749

StatPac Gold, Walonick Associates. 539

STATS+ , StatSoft. 139

SYSTAT. 549

With SYGRAPH 709

ADDITIONAL S&E PRODUCTS

FORTRAN LANGUAGE

DIFF-E-Q, Microcompatibles.$ 449

Extend, Desiqn Decisions. 131

Grafmatic, Microcompatibles. 119

LaheyF77L FORTRAN. 429

Lahey Personal FORTRAN 89

MathPac, Systolic Systems. 445

Microsoft FORTRAN w/CodeView 299

Numerical Analyst, Magus. 249

Plotmatic.Microcompatibles. 119

RM/FORTbAN, Austec. 479

Spindrift Library . 135

SSP/PC, Lattice. 279

AUTOCAD ADD ONS

AutoESL, Systems Unlimited of CA.$ 279

AutoSHAPES. 189

FSIMPLEX, 89

Turbo View, Sublogic Corp. 449

MOUSEPRODUCTS

LOGITECH HiREZ Mouse.$ 149

LOGITECH Serial or Bus Mouse. 99

LOGITECH Combos CALL

LOGITECH Series 2 Mouse 89

Microsoft Ser or Bus Mouse 99

W/Easy CAD. 119

W/MS Windows. 139

ATLAS°GRAPHICS, STSC $ 339

Atoms. Curtis Technical Soft. 25 pmipr ^ i qq

COMPfcDITOR.Aveco Inc. 155 GAUSS Prog. Lang., Aptech Sys.$ 189

Engineer's Aide, Eng Prog Concepts. 649 GAUSS Math & Stat System 380

LAbCAUX 1000 Calculator. 55

PC-Matlab, The Math Works. 659 •** rWt***~

Control system Toolbox. 459 Microtec, Reims, Uniware, Quelo.$ CALL

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SUMMAMOUSE, Summagraphics.

ChartBuster PC. Interchart Software.. ..$ 369

| APL LANGUAGE

Omniplot. Scientific Endeavors. 269

PC.MAP III,Peerless Engineering. 755

PLOTZ,Curtis TechnicalSoft. 319

TECH°GRAPH°PAD, binary engineering.. 359

1 EQUATION SOLVERS

Eureka: The Solver, Borland.

.$ 119

APL°PLUS/PC, STSC.$ 499

APL’PLUS PC TOOLS, 209

Pocket APL 80

SCIENTIFIC TEXT PROCESSING

CHEM-TEXT, Molecular Design Ltd.$ 1.500

EXACT, Technical Support Software. 419

EXP. Brooks/Cole Publishing. 129

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^ SOFTWARE CO. J

55 South Broadway. Tarrytown, NY 10591

Circle 236 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 • B Y T E 115

CHAOS MANOR

Items Discussed

Actor.$495

The Whitewater Group
Technology Innovation Center
906 University Place
Evanston, IL 60201
(312) 491-2370
Inquiry 935.

Choice Words.$99

Proximity Technology, Inc.

3511 Northeast 22nd Ave.

Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33308
(305) 566-3511
Inquiry 936.

FastTRAP

serial version.$149

bus version.$169

MicroSpeed

5307 Randall Place
Fremont, CA 94538
(415) 490-1403

Inquiry 937.

Lascaux “The Intelligent

Calculator”.$59.95

Lascaux Graphics
3220 Steuben Ave.

Bronx, NY 10467
(212) 654-7429
Inquiry 938.

NewWave.$195

Hewlett-Packard Co.

3000 Hanover St.

Palo Alto, CA 94304
(415) 857-1501
Inquiry 939.

Special Days.$39.95

Footprints in History .$39.95

The Salinon Corp.

P.O.Box 31047
Dallas, TX 75231
(214) 692-9091
Inquiry 940.

Sprint.$199.95

Borland International, Inc.

1800 Green Hills Rd.

P.O. Box 660001
Scotts Valley, CA 95066
(408) 438-8400
Inquiry 941.

Windows/286.$99

Windows/386.$195

Microsoft Corp.

16011 Northeast 36th Way
P.O. Box 97017
Redmond, WA 98073
(206) 882-8080
Inquiry 942.

Circle 116 on Reader Service Card

ChiWriter ^

How are you currently producing your scientific
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PC Magazine, July 1988

|-5>C§-1

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□ Hi Res Screen Support $24.95

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□ IndexChi Index Generator $59.95

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Horstmann Software Design Corporation
140 E. San Carlos St./P.O. Box 5039
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(408) 298-0828

horstmann

oratories and knows more about gravity
and antimatter than anyone except Ste¬
phen Hawking and Roger Penrose. He
also writes some good science fiction.

One computer book of the month is by
Nancy Andrews, Windows from Micro¬
soft Press. Fair warning: it’s an “official
guide” and therefore glosses over all the
problems. I recommend it as a good in¬
troduction to what Windows is all about,
but if you want to learn about Windows
warts and all, you’ll have to go else¬
where. The other computer book of the
month is by Gerard J. Holzmann, Be¬
yond Photography, the Digital Darkroom
from Prentice Hall. It will tell you a lot
about what can be done with digital
image processing and how to do it. Some
of it’s amazing. I wonder if photographs
will be courtroom evidence any longer.

The game of the month remains Stra¬
tegic Conquest. We still haven’t got it to
play on the Mac II, but it goes great guns
on the Mac Plus. The game of the month
would have been F/A-18 Interceptor
from Electronic Arts for the Amiga, but
there was a problem. Once in a while

someone gets lucky and gets to play the
game, but most of us can’t get past the
crazy code-wheel “security” system. It’s
far more complicated than the game it¬
self. I might even prefer copy protection,
except that Electronic Arts is the outfit
that had a scheme for the Commodore 64
that caused the machine to bash its disk
drives out of alignment. Heaven knows
what they could do to an Amiga. We’ll
tell you more about F/A-18 Interceptor
when we can find a cryptographer to help
us with their code wheel. ■

Jerry Pournelle holds a doctorate in psy¬
chology and is a science fiction writer
who also earns a comfortable living writ¬
ing about computers present and future.
Jerry welcomes readers' comments and
opinions. Send a self-addressed, stamped
envelope to Jerry Pournelle, c/o BYTE,
One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough,
NH 03458. Please put your address on
the letter as well as on the envelope. Due
to the high volume of letters, Jerry cannot
guarantee a personal reply. You can also
contact him on BIX as (< jerryp. ”

116 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

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EXPERT ADVICE

APPLICATIONS PLUS ■ Ezra Shapiro

Sprint

with Caution

Borland’s new word
processor doesn’t live
up to Ezra’s
expectations; plus,
more on project-
management software

W hen Lotus announced that it
was pulling the plug on
Modern Jazz for the Macin¬
tosh, I was somewhat disap¬
pointed. The Mac universe could use an¬
other strong integrated product; I’d been
hoping that the program would be a
worthy challenger to Microsoft Works.
However, it takes guts (not to mention fi¬
nancial stability) to do what Lotus did,
and there’s a lot of merit in abandoning a
product that simply doesn’t measure up,
even if it means discarding years of labor
and a significant cash investment.
Though Lotus has taken heat for its in¬
ability to bring Modern Jazz to market,
you have to admire the company’s com¬
mitment to quality. It has sent a strong,
comforting message to its customers—
past, present, and future.

I am far less troubled than I used to be
by companies that fail to meet their an¬
nounced shipping dates. If it takes a few
extra weeks or months to deliver a prod¬
uct that’s bug-free and reliable, the wait
is a minor inconvenience. I’d rather lose
time than data.

But what can be said about big firms
that release substandard products? What
does it say about their attitude toward
their customers? Something to think
about, isn’t it?

Too Much, Too Late

Sprint: The Professional Word Processor
(Borland International, $199.95) should
have been a winner. The theoretical ap¬
peal of the program is unquestionable:

You’re promised an editor with powerful
formatting capabilities, a selection of
user interfaces, and one of the most ex¬
tensive macro languages ever devised.
The price is quite reasonable for a full-
featured word processor. And it comes
from the company that brings us such
jewels as SideKick, Reflex, and Para¬
dox, all of which rank among my favorite
programs.

Unfortunately, Sprint is nothing to
write home about. It doesn’t qualify as a
total disaster, but cosmetics are slipshod,
and Sprint’s most highly touted fea¬
ture—the ability to switch among a half-
dozen “user interfaces”—is far less im¬
pressive than Borland’s advertising
would have you believe. The product
seems somehow strangely unfinished; I
couldn’t escape the sense that I was
working with a programmers’ prototype
rather than with a final release. The
menus are unappetizing lists of com¬
mands that pop up gracelessly; Borland
has given us better-looking word pro¬

cessing in both SideKick and the Turbo
Pascal Editor Toolbox.

I was disappointed with Sprint.
Though I’ve tried for over a month to de¬
velop some affection for it, I just can’t do
it. I’ve come to expect miracles from
Philippe Kahn; perhaps I was simply de¬
manding more from Sprint than any MS-
DOS word processor could ever give me.

Installation starts out looking easy but
turns into a headache. The Setup pro¬
gram opens with a menu that suggests a
pleasantly mindless cruise through a
series of configuration options. The
numbers on Sprint’s 11 disks have little
to do with the sequence in which their
contents are loaded; I had to do a mad
dance of disk shuffling.

After installing the main program
modules, the Setup program asks if
you’d like to have it modify your AUTO¬
EXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files without
telling you what it intends to do to them
(a practice I despise); you can opt to have

continued

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 119

APPLICATIONS PLUS

it make the changes or to copy examples
of the two files into your Sprint direc¬
tory. Since I’m wild about punishment, I
decided to let it make the modifications.
Instead, the program gave me the exam¬
ples. When I went back and requested ex¬
amples, hoping to get the changes, it gave
me the examples again.

All hell broke loose when I got to the
printer-installation segment. I selected
an option that would let me specify the
port to which my printer was attached,
and found myself locked in an endless
loop in which the program kept request¬
ing the Setup disk and refusing to recog¬
nize that the disk was, indeed, in drive
A. I was able to hit the Escape key and
exit back to the main menu, but from that
point on, one of the screens having to do
with printers kept on appearing in the
middle of totally unrelated operations. I
tried this several times, choosing differ¬
ent printers, and the result was always
the same. I could have Sprint send output
to the standard PRN device or to a file; if
I wanted to pick a port, J was flat out of
luck. Ouch.

After about 10 runs through the Setup
program, I figured Sprint was as in¬
stalled as it was ever going to be. Choos¬
ing to let the program give me the dictio¬
nary, the thesaurus, and all the user
interfaces and file conversions, Sprint
was occupying close to 2.5 megabytes of
my hard disk drive. (If you choose only
one interface and forget about conver¬
sions, you can keep it to between 1 and
1.5 megabytes.) Since macros, formats,
interfaces, overlays, translation routines,
printer definitions, dictionaries, and
suchlike are all separate files, I had 59
entries in my directory. I refuse to think
about using this program without a hard
disk drive.

Anyway, I plowed on without giving
the manual more than a quick skim.
After all, I know many word processors,
right? Sprint unceremoniously flashed a
brief copyright notice and dropped me
directly into the editing screen of the ad¬
vanced Borland interface: ruler at the
top, status line at the bottom, and not the
slightest hint of how to do anything fur¬
ther. A quick check of the reference card
led me to the F10 key, and I brought up
the main menu. I was amazed to discover
that on my EGA monitor/video card
combination, the initial letters on the
menu, which can be used to invoke com¬
mands, were highlighted in white on
white. I found the Customize menu,
changed the colors to something read¬
able, and loaded the WordStar inter¬
face, with which I thought I’d be more
at ease.

What I See Is Not
What I Expected to Get

Borland and I have a difference of opin¬
ion on what constitutes a user interface, I
guess, because I was expecting to see a
screen that looked like good old Word¬
Star. What I got was a screen that looked
like the good old advanced Borland inter¬
face. No visible difference. And typing
the WordStar Control-key command pre¬
fixes brought up menus along the right
side of the screen, in exactly the same po¬
sition the Borland interface uses.

mJ orland

and I have a difference
of opinion on what
constitutes a user
interface, I guess.

I hit FI for help and was treated to an
ominous message: “If you are not famil¬
iar with WordStar, Borland suggests that
you use the more powerful Sprint inter¬
face instead.” I didn’t think this was a
good way to instill confidence, but most
of the standard WordStar commands ap¬
peared to be available, so I began to do
some editing.

I typed a few words and then tried to
use the arrow keys to back up and correct
a couple of typing mistakes. Couldn’t do
it; the cursor was frozen in place at the
end of the line. I had no idea if I had done
something wrong or if Sprint was in the
process of crashing, but I started punch¬
ing Control and function keys at random
to see if I could produce a response.
Nothing but an occasional beep. At that
point, I went off and made myself a cup
of tea.

When I returned, the cursor had
moved to the front end of the line, and a
string of K 's stretched off the right side
of the screen. I tried WordStar com¬
mands and cursor keys to move along the
line, but they didn’t do anything. The up-
arrow key worked, however, and I moved
up to the ruler line, which I was able to
delete, much to my surprise. Then, since
I had magically regained access to the
help screen, I moved from there to the
main Sprint menu and tried to reload the
advanced Borland interface. I wanted to
see if the cursor would start moving in a

different environment.

I accomplished the interface shift, but
the text vanished. So much for the auto¬
save feature that protects you from data
loss if you stop typing for a few seconds.
Needless to say, I have not been able to
replicate this experience, although in
subsequent trials with the WordStar in¬
terface, I’ve managed to lose large
chunks of text without knowing why.

I then spent a few hours reading the
documentation, which is both exhaustive
and exhausting. The manuals are per¬
fect-bound, which means broken spines
if you try to flatten them out, and printed
in dense black type. The word “unrelent¬
ing” springs to mind.

The next time I tried the program, I
went with the Microsoft Word interface.
Yes, it looked exactly like the advanced
Borland interface, but the menus em¬
ployed Word’s command set. When I be¬
gan typing, Sprint put in all the symbols
Word uses to indicate spaces, returns,
tabs, and suchlike. I was impressed until
I switched back to pure Borland and no¬
ticed that the funny symbols didn’t go
away. It turns out that loading the Word
interface sets preference options that de¬
termine the appearance of your text, but
the other interfaces aren’t bright enough
to look for the same options and reset
them.

OK. Having had my fill of the imita¬
tive interfaces, I did the rest of my testing
in Borland mode. On my Tandon PC AT
clone, the program was certainly fast
enough for me, even throttled down to 6
MHz. Block moves, margin changes,
spelling checking, and basic editing op¬
erations were quite acceptable, and I
hummed along contentedly for a while.
As I began to try out more sophisticated
features, though, I encountered a series
of oddities inherent to Sprint’s design.

You can have as many as 24 files open
at any one time, with up to 6 appearing
simultaneously on-screen. That’s nice,
until you discover that windows are hori¬
zontal only. Forget side-by-side compar¬
isons of narrow columns; can’t be done.
Windows stretch the full width of the
screen, and each displays a status line at
the bottom. Let’s see: If you try for the
maximum of 6 windows on a standard
25-line display, that’s 6 lines deducted
for status information, leaving you 19
lines to be divided six ways. Unless you
can do something useful with 2- and 3-
line windows, you’d better forget the
maximum and plan for only 3 or 4 files
open on the screen.

According to the documentation, you
can do complex formatting, like creating

continued

120 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Pfe 3 !

2°1H

■Tira

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Hard Drive Package

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IBM XT Package with
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EPSON EQUITY 11+

IBM AT Compatible Hard I
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Keyboard • 640K RAM • 80286
Microprocessor • 1.2 MB Floppy
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$ 1399 Mon " or

LOGITECH MOUSE M-7 $59. ,s

.HMUlIillill

PACKARD-BELL 386
40 MB Hard DriveSvstem
IBM AT Compatible

■ 1 MB RAM - 80386 16 MHz
Microproccessor • 1.2 MB
Floppy Drive-40 MB Hard Drive
l 9 Expansion Slots - Enhanced
I Keyboard • Serial & Parallel
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..-.$1199

PS/ll Model 30 w/20 MB. ..$1599

PS/11 Model 50 W/30MB 4 1.44MB Ropoy...$2849
PS/IIModel 60 w/44 MB 4 1.44MB Roppy...$3299
PS/11 Model 60W/70MB 4 1.44MB Roppy....$36l9
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PS/11 Model 80 w/44 MB 4 1.44MB Roppy....$4295
PS/ll Model 80 W/70MB 4 1.44MB Roppy....$4795

5.25 External Drive for PS/ll.-.-.SI 69

IBM PERSONAL SYSTEM II MONITORS
8503 Monochrome Monitor..-.$199

8512 Color Monitor.-.-.$449

8513 Color Monitor. $519

IBM Proprinter II. $369

IBM PC/XT/AT COMPATIBLE

PACKAGE

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640K RAM-1.2 MB Floppy Drive
12" Monitor <*

Specifications. Call For Information.,We Carry Modems, Drives, Cards,
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MONITORS THOMSON 14"CGA Monitor....$289
MAGNAVOX 13" RGB Color

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I DESKPRO 386 MODEL 40 \
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ID • Keyboard • 80386 16 MHz I
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APPLE IIC W/ 12-

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APPLE HEW/5.25 DISKDRIVE
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EPSON PANASONIC

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KXP-4450 Laser.$1549
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LX-800. $199.95 321-SL.$449.95

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| Commodore 128 Computer - Commodore 1571 Disk |
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• Commodore 1515Column Printer $

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• 12" Computer Monitor

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Same Package w/20MB

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Keyboard 1.2MB Floppy
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NX-1000

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Your IBM PC/XT/AT or
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IEEE-488 instrument.

You can:

□ Plug-in to BASIC, C,

FORTRAN, or Pascal.

□ Use HP-IB plotters,
printers, and instruments.

□ Spend less time programming.

□ Call (617) 273-1818 and put us to the test.

Complete hardware and software solutions for just $395.

Capital Equipment Corp.
99 South Bedford Street
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Contact us to discuss our products and your needs. (800) 548-4778
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are talking about us.

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APPLICATIONS PLUS

numbered lists, multiple columns, or in¬
dented outlines. In practice, because
Sprint is not a WYSIWYG program,
every time you try something fancy,
you’re flying blind.

The outline feature is a good case in
point. Each time you want to indent a
new sublevel, you have to insert the
Sprint formatting command BEGIN OUT¬
LINE, which appears as highlighted text.
And for every BEGIN OUTLINE, you must
provide a matching END OUTLINE com¬
mand. A standard outline quickly begins
to look like a Pascal program (although

E very

time you try something
fancy, you’re flying
blind.

flush left), with your lines and Sprint’s
commands interspersed. It’s pretty easy
to lose track of where you are because no
information appears to tell you anything
about position. Numbering is automati¬
cally generated to go with the indents,
but only at print time; you can’t see
either indents or numbers while you’re
editing.

You can get a rough idea of what’s hap¬
pening by calling up Sprint’s page-
preview mode, which runs your text
through the independent formatting pro¬
gram and displays the result. You can’t
edit while looking at the formatted ver¬
sion, and the documentation warns you
that what you’re viewing is only an ap¬
proximation of the final output.

Sprint is an old-fashioned word pro¬
cessor; editing and formatting are ac¬
complished by two separate programs.
The editor has additional code to allow it
to act as a shell for the formatter, but the
two programs don’t interact much. As an
example, you don’t see dynamic page
breaks displayed by the editor; that’s the
formatter’s job. The editor doesn’t
understand much about pages.

If you want to get an idea of how things
are breaking, you can push the text
through the formatter, which will place
visible breaks in the file. These breaks
won’t respond to any changes you make
to the text later; if you do some editing,
you have to issue another repaginate

continued

122 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Circle 137 on Reader Service Card

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Circle 103 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 123

Circle 70 on Reader Service Card

SPEECH

PRODUCTS

For PCs and compatibles

SYNTHESIZER—only $79.95

The next versatile and best sounding speech product available for
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not interfere with normal printer operation. Also comes with audio
amplifier/speaker and power adapter. Software includes two ad¬
vanced text-to-speech programs, digitized speech and music
files, full screen waveform editor, sampling music keyboard,
special effects mixing board, and drivers so you can add speech
and sound effects to programs written in BASIC, C, PASCAL, and
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DIGITIZER-only $89.95

The Voice Master PC Digitizer is a full 8-bit PCM sampler board.
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for recording and editing sound files for playback through
Speech Thing. Also includes a real-time spectrum display and
oscilloscope display as well as assembly language source list¬
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gram included which is callable via an interrupt vector. Demon¬
stration program written in GWBASIC. VOICE MASTER PC
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VOICE RECOGNITION—

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A price/performance break-through! Equal in performance to
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APPLICATIONS PLUS

command to relocate the breaks in the
file. If you’re used to any sort of dynamic
formatting (as is found in most other
word processors), this is awkward and
confusing.

Should you make a mistake entering
formatting commands, like forgetting to
supply a matching END command for
each BEGIN command, you won’t find
out about it until you run the formatter,
either for preview or printout. The effect
is like trying to write a program for a
compiler without the advantage of a
debugger.

Lots of Power; Who’s It For?

True, Sprint has a lot of power. If you
like to program, you can generate editing
macros that will do just about anything
you’ve ever wanted to do in a word pro¬
cessing program. The language is thor¬
ough and extensive, and it looks.a bit like
C. You can perform complicated search
and replace operations, manipulate files,

^l\ y major
question about Sprint
is: Who is this program
for?

and even create new command sets (the
user interfaces were all written as
macros). There’s some slight perfor¬
mance degradation when using macros as
opposed to native commands, but it’s
barely noticeable on an AT-class ma¬
chine. Similarly, you can program the
formatter with a terse, often cryptic for¬
matting language. Commands can reside
within your document or in independent
“style sheet” files that get sucked in
when you run the formatter.

The resulting flexibility is marvelous,
but determining how to make Sprint do
its tricks is severely hampered by the
documentation, which seems to be writ¬
ten mostly for programmers. Longer tu¬
torials would help, particularly for writ¬
ing macros. Code samples in the
manuals are few and short, and the dis¬
cussion of macro programming tech¬
niques is limited to 30 pages.

You do get a good selection of features
with Sprint, including excellent spelling
correction, a large thesaurus, mail
merge, a huge amount of context-sensi¬

tive on-line help, good printer support,
and the auto-save feature that kicks in
when you’ve left the keyboard idle for a
few seconds, but you can get those fea¬
tures elsewhere—which leads to my
major question about Sprint: Who is this
program for?

I’m not convinced that Sprint is the
right tool for novices, though Borland as¬
sures me that its interface was carefully
developed to appeal to new users. Inter¬
mediate users and those used to
WYSIWYG will be thrown for a loop.
Programmers (who’d appreciate the
macro capabilities) would be just as satis¬
fied with Pmate, MuliiEdit, or the edi¬
tor/debugger combos that come with
most programming environments. That
leaves Sprint appealing to an odd subset
of the word processing world.

I accept Borland’s contention that it
serves the needs of offices that want cha¬
meleon interfaces for part-time and tem¬
porary employees used to other pro¬
grams. For anyone else, the collection of
surrogate interfaces is merely a transi¬
tional pathway into Sprint.

Borland includes an eye-opening pam¬
phlet that details the ways in which its
implementations of the interfaces differ
from the originals; each interface gets
two or three terse pages of exceptions and
exclusions. And if you’re going to do
anything with macros or complex for¬
matting, you’re going to have to learn
Sprint anyhow.

The program also seems well suited to
environments that need heavy-duty for¬
matting for long, complex documents
that include many different types of ma¬
terials. Encyclopedias, almanacs, tech¬
nical training manuals, and software
documentation would be perfect uses for
the package. So Sprint would be excel¬
lent as the choice for word processing at
(surprise!) Borland itself.

So here’s a modest proposal: Since
Sprint would seem to be a program de¬
signed by Borland for Borland, let’s let
Borland use it.

Project Mismanagement

Recently, I received a delightful letter
from Hugh Roth on the subject of proj¬
ect-management software. Hugh has
been battling several programs for the
past few months, trying to develop
scheduling systems for book publishing.
The letter was long, articulate, and
thought-provoking. With his permission,
I’ve extracted a few of his key points;
they’re worth remembering if you’re at¬
tempting to pick your way through the
mine field of conflicting claims and in-

continued

124 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Aztec C

Power to go the distance...

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• all Standard System features

• UNIX utilities make, diff, grep

• UNIX vi editor

Commercial System . $499

• all Developer features

• source for run time libraries

• one year of updates

From real time embedded
applications to comprehensive
commercial applications on
Macintosh, IBM PC, Amiga,

Atari, and others, Aztec C has
earned a well-deserved reputa¬
tion as an innovative, tough to
beat, rock-solid C development
system.

But don’t just take our word for
it—try it yourself. We know that
the best way to understand what
puts you ahead with Aztec C is
to use it. That’s why Aztec C

systems purchased directly from
Manx come with a 30-day, no
questions asked, satisfaction
guarantee. Call for yours today.

We can also send you informa¬
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Plus information on support soft¬
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port options, and all of the
services and specialized sup¬
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you’re pushing your software to
the limits and ... beyond.

Aztec C Micro Systems

Aztec C is available for most micro¬
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The Commercial system. All systems
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Aztec C68k/Am .... Amiga

source debugger-optional

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Aztec C86 . MS-DOS

source debugger • CP/M libraries

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Aztec C80 . CP/M-80

Aztec C65 . Apple II & II GS

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• C compiler

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• utilities

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Features:

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• Prototype and debug non-specific
code under MS-DOS

• Compilers produce modifiable
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• Support for INTEL hex, S record, and
other formats

• source for UNIX run time library

• processor dependent features

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Call 1-800-221-0440

In NJ or outside the USA,
call 201-542-2121

Telex: 4995812 Fax 201-542-8386

Circle 152 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 125

Circle 275 on Reader Service Card

Importers:

It's time to change
bad habits.

0 Don’t think Germans offer high
quality only at high prices.

O Don’t limit your market survey
to Asian products.

0 Don’t forget to order our catalogue.

Printer Buffer inside cable.

For the average user, most buffers
are too complicated.

So we designed a buffered cable
with 64K or 256K inside.

Just a cable. As easy to use.

Nearly as inexpensive.

Take out your data.

In a battery-operated buffer. Up to
128K with parallel or RS232-input.
Battery will hold data for as long as
3 years. Record and play as often
as you like. Carry data to a printer
or to another computer.

Share your printer.

Forget these boxes that occupy lot
of your desk space. Forget the
times when you had to switch
manually. We have a cable that
allows two computers share one
printer automatically.

That’s how T-switches should
look like!

For IBM-compatibles. 2 printers to
one computer. Complete set incl.
all cables and a small switch-box.
No bulky box on your desk!

Isolating line drivers

If a line driver is not optically iso¬
lating, you might face problems
arising from different mains
supplies. That’s why our RS232-
drivere are 100% isolated up to
1000 volts.

Data Isolators

Transients on the mains supply or
electrostatical discharges can cause
erraneous data transmissions and
even destruction of computers.

We offer optical isolators.

Terminal bus.

Connect up to 16 terminals to one
2-wire bus. Save installation costs
and gain flexibility and ease of
use. MUX-BUS includes optically
isolated line drivers.

Interfaces.

We have a complete line of inter¬
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Centronics, IEEE488, RS232 and
RS422.

The following are registered trademarks:
Atari, 064, Cl 28, Centronics, IBM

BIlHi]

Austria: Zahrer, Wien 0222-347671

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Manufacturer and Exporter:

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APPLICATIONS PLUS

comprehensible specifications that char¬
acterize this peculiar niche of the soft¬
ware world.

Like many of us, Hugh sees a desper¬
ate need for good project-management
tools. “Everywhere in business,” he
writes, “thousands of essentially unre¬
lated dates are pumped into spreadsheets
and databases and then pumped out as
schedules. Garbage. One date has no re¬
lation to another unless there’s some hard
code behind the data.” Yet most com¬
mercial packages are overly complex
and, as a result, are rarely used.

Hugh cites poor handling of “tasks
without resources that are based on time,
rather than resource availability. You can
kludge your way around this, but who
wants to? The classic case is curing con¬
crete. A certain number of calendar days
must pass, independent of any resource.
You can bet that most packages will not
show the concrete curing on the week¬
end!”

He also blasts a tendency to assign un¬
realistic starting dates to tasks without
precedents. Let’s say your project has
one isolated task that must be completed
before the end of the second month, and
it doesn’t depend on any other resource
used elsewhere in the project. “Most
packages will show the task as starting
when the project starts. Where is the per¬
son in business so virtuous or so unbusy
that he can start a task 50 days early?
This is a real flaw, or maybe the pro¬
grammers don’t want to fix it because it
means several iterations of the calcula¬
tion algorithm each time you calculate
the schedule. The critical path must first
be established, then tasks like this have
to be calculated backward. ”

But the most disturbing points he
raises relate to the overall design philos¬
ophy of project-management programs.
“The general outlook of the packages is
that a department does a few projects,
each with a different set of resources,
and these projects rarely overlap. Who
wants to learn [the programs] for just a
few projects?

The place where you need the power is
where you have many projects drawing
on a common resource pool. You need to
be able to keep each resources calendar
up to date and have any changes reflected
in the individual projects. If one sup¬
plier goes on strike, and I have 50 proj¬
ects that use this supplier, what do I have
to do? Open and load 50 DOS files and
scroll to the correct calendar and change
it? Yuck!

“The other place that most packages
fail is in cross-project reporting. When a
department has 250 projects to traffic

Item

Discussed

Sprint.$199.95

Borland International, Inc.

1700 Greenhills Rd.

Scotts Valley, CA 95066
(408) 439-1060
Inquiry 934.

and develop, 250 individual schedules
don’t do too much good if I’m a super¬
visor and I’ve got one person out sick and
another on vacation. I need to know,
‘What do I gotta get out this week?’ I
know this is a tough problem. The 640K-
byte barrier owns part of it, but most
packages don’t (by their design) ac¬
knowledge that this is a real problem.
With much heavy breathing, they tell you
1000 tasks, 1600 with EMS, or some
such. Gawd. You’re out of runway by the
time you link the fourth project.

“This kind of reporting is much more
important than resource leveling, be¬
cause many departments work on a ‘do or
die’ type of schedule. Don’t tell me you
don’t have enough bodies to get the job
done! Get it done anyway! ”

I realize that I’ve been troubled by the
same questions, but I’ve never been able
to identify the cause for my unease. In
the future, I’ll keep the “Roth Rules for
Evaluating Project-Management Soft¬
ware” firmly planted in the back of my
brain.

Hugh concludes by urging me to con¬
tinue reporting on project-management
packages. “They are a good way to keep
your salary in others’ hands. Some of
them offer the opportunity to use a com¬
puter and make the job harder (as you
pointed out). You get to use nifty things
like 6-pen plotters. You get to spend sev¬
eral weeks figuring out the yes/no
answer to the following preference-
screen question: ‘Show negative float on
Gantt?’ And, not to forget, you get to ap¬
preciate really simple, elegant, intuitive
packages like Q&A and SuperCalc 4.”

Amen. ■

Ezra Shapiro is a consulting editor for
BYTE. You can contact him on BIX as
(t ezra. ” Because of the volume of mail he
receives, Ezra, regretfully, cannot re¬
spond to each inquiry.

Your questions and comments are wel¬
come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, One
Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH
03458.

126 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

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Easy EGA

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Easy Talk E2400
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Circle 36 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 127

• l«JJi

cams

Make your j
millions of times
smarter

More and more, programmers and work¬
station builders are using DESQview 2.0 as a
development tool. The reason is simple.

They can create powerful, multitasking
solutions today for the millions of DOS PCs
in use today. Solutions comparable to those
promised for tomorrow by OS/2.

The API Advantage

Programmers who take advantage of DESQviev/s API
(Application Program Interface) get access to the powerful
capabilities built into DESQview-multitasking, window¬
ing, intertask comunications, mailboxes, shared programs,
memory management, mousing, data transfer, menu¬
building and context sensitive help.

Bells and Whistles

A program taking advantage of the DESQview 2.0 API can
spawn subtasks for performing background operations or
new processes for loading and running other programs
concurrently. It can schedule processing after an interval or
at a certain time. It can use DESQview s intertask commu¬
nications to rapidly exchange data between programs,
share common code and data; or interrupt at critical events.
It can use DESQview's menuing and mousing capabilities
to create menus. And there's lots more it can do.

80386 Power

80386 programmers can take advantage of
the 80386's protected mode for large
programs, yet run on DOS and multitask in
DESQview-side by side with other 80386
and DOS programs. The breakthroughs that
make this possible: DOS Extenders from
PharLap Software and AI Architects and
DESQview support of these DOS extenders.

DESQview Developer Conference

So if you are a developer, looking to create programs with
mainframe capabilities, but wanting to sell into the existing
base of millions of DOS PCs, come to Quarterdeck's first
DESQview API Developers Conference, August 16-18,1988
at the Marina Beach Hotel, in Marina del Rey, California.

For more information call or write us.

Come leam about the DESQview 2.0 API and 80386 DOS
Extenders. Meet 80386 experts as well as those smart
people who are creating DESQview 2.0 API workstations
solutions.

And if you want to get a leg up before the conference, ask
us about the DESQview API Tools for assembler or C
programmers.

Some of the applications under
development right now using
DESQview 2.0 API Tools: CAD,
Medical systems, insurance, 3270
mainframe communications,
network management, real
estate, typesetting, point of sale,
education, commodity trading,
stock trading and online voting.

Bringing New Power to DOS.
DESQview 2.0 API Toolkit.

Quarterdeck Office Systems 150 Pico Blvd.,Santa Monica, CA 90405

(213) 392 9851

128 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Circle 219 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 220)

EXPERT ADVICE

DOWN TO BUSINESS ■ Wayne Rash Jr.

♦

Be Secure,
Not Sorry

Nobody likes to worry
about security, but
people problems and
accidents happen

Y our hard disk doesn’t boot. Or
maybe it does boot, but only
one file is left, and it seems to
be named GOTCHA. Or maybe
one of your employees quits suddenly
and his or her new employer seems to
know who all your customers are. Usu¬
ally, it takes something like this to get
the managers interested in computer
security.

Security is not the most glamorous
area in computing. Managers don’t like it
because security systems cost money.
Employees don’t like it because they
think it’s too inconvenient. The technical
staff doesn’t like it because they think it
gets between them and the machine.

They’re all right, of course. But
they’re also all wrong. Many things af¬
fect security, and not all of them apply to
all computer systems. For starters, let’s
look at why security is important, and
why it’s worth spending money on.

Time Is Money

While your computers are certainly
worth something in themselves, their
real value isn’t in the hardware. Instead,
it’s in the information the machine con¬
tains and the machine’s importance to
your operations. If the information had to
be located and reentered, how much
would that cost you? If the computer is
necessary to some facet of your opera¬
tion, how much would you lose if it were
missing and you couldn’t do the work
without it?

The problem boils down to two areas:
the safety of the computer itself and the
safety of the information it contains. Be¬
cause physical security and data security

are so different, the solutions to the prob¬
lems usually seem different also. But, in
reality, they are closely related. After
all, if someone steals your computer, he
or she probably has your data, too.

Physical Security

If you keep people away from your com¬
puter, they won’t have the chance to steal
it or fiddle with the stuff on the hard
disk. If you keep it in a safe place, you
won’t have to worry about anything else
happening to it, either. That’s the basis
of physical security.

Of course, you can’t always keep the
computer in the safest possible place.
The users might not be able to work on it
there, for one thing. But you can still
keep people from taking the machine or
tampering with it. The easiest way is to
lock it. The IBM PC AT and most of its
clones, as well as the IBM PS/2s, have a
built-in lock that is reasonably effective
against casual tampering. It secures the
case and tells the computer to ignore the

keyboard. While a determined person
can pry open the case to override this fea¬
ture, most people won’t do that.

Not all computers have a keylock,
though. If you can’t keep your equipment
in a locked room when it’s not in use, you
can at least lock it inside a cabinet.
Again, this provides some security
against casual tampering, but some of
these cabinets are unwieldy and others
provide a convenient way to roll an entire
system out the door. If theft is your big¬
gest worry, there are always systems like
Anchor Pad that let you lock the com¬
puter system to a flat surface such as a
tabletop. Then thieves have to steal the
table along with the computer—a much
more conspicuous act.

Data Security

If your business is like most other busi¬
nesses, the biggest investment you have
in your computer system is the data that’s
inside it. If that data disappears, you

continued

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 129

DOWN TO BUSINESS

could be out of business, or worse. In
many cases, the data is worth a great deal
more than the computer it resides in.

Protecting that data means preventing
people from removing, altering, or copy¬
ing it, and protecting yourself from los¬
ing the use of it through system failure.
In the first case, people are the threat to
data security. Some people are really out
to do you harm. Others are simply care¬
less or not trained properly. And then
there’s the problem of losing data
through ordinary accidents and system
failures. In any case, you’re out of busi¬
ness, whether you lost your data through
the actions of a disgruntled employee or
because the head crashed on the hard
disk.

Protecting against Loss

Data loss is the easiest problem to protect
against. All you need to do is keep a cur¬
rent backup. Then, all it takes is a few
minutes to restore your data, and you’re
back in business. How you back up your
data, whether with a software product
such as Fifth Generation System’s Fast-
back Plus or a tape drive, makes little dif¬
ference. What’s important is that you do it.

The People Problem

Once you’ve taken care of protecting
yourself against losing the data, then you
have to worry about the people. Most in¬
stances of data loss that I have come
across were the result of accidents. You
can reduce the problem of unintentional
data loss through training. Once people
understand that formatting the hard disk
makes it hard to use the data that was on
it, they usually won’t do it.

However, then there are the people
who really want to erase everything or
want your information for themselves.
This is what most people think of when
they think of computer security. This is
also the focus of most security products
and the area in which password access,
encrypted data, and the like become im¬
portant.

Depending on your type of business,
malice may not be a significant threat.
Most businesses, however, keep some
sensitive information in their computers.
It could be related to a firm’s bidding
process or personnel records, or it could
be other data that will give your competi¬
tion the edge. How do you keep this in¬
formation secure?

First of all, keep the computer itself in
a locked office. It’s amazing what people
will do out of curiosity, given enough
time. Second, lock the computer, if you
have one that will lock. Finally, consider
some sort of security system.

Items

Discussed

Watchdog.$295.

Fisher International Systems
P.O.Box 9107
Naples, FL 33942
(800) 237-4510
(813) 643-1500
Inquiry 955.

Access II.$165.

Access 11+

With EPROM.$175.

With halfcard.$195.

Kinetic Software Corp.
Distillery Commons 240
Lexington Rd. at Payne
Louisville, KY 40206
(502) 583-1679
Inquiry 956.

Security Systems

There are hardware and software systems
that will prevent unauthorized people
from using the computer and permit
others to perform only certain actions.
These programs require users to identify
themselves, and they require a password
to use the computer.

I’ve already mentioned machines like
the IBM PS/2s, which have a lock on the
case. You can also set up the PS/2s so
that you must enter a password before you
can use the computer.

More thorough systems control nearly
every aspect of the computer operation.
Normally, they do this through a series
of menus that control access to the oper¬
ating system, restricting most users to a
few selected operations. These systems
do, however, restrict the flexibility of
use. You need to decide if the individual
case justifies this loss of flexibility.

A couple of the better-known security
systems are Watchdog from Fisher Inter¬
national Systems and Access II from Ki¬
netic Software Corp. Both companies
base their security systems on multiple
access levels through menus and user
passwords. Kinetic includes a board that
fits IBM PC-compatible computers and
forces the machine to boot only off the
hard disk.

Learning about Security

Before you get too deep into setting up
security systems, it’s probably a good

idea to learn a lot abopt them. One inter¬
esting source of help is the National
Computer Security Center. This organi¬
zation operates under the auspices of the
super-secret National Security Agency,
but it exists to help all computer users
learn more about security and to help the
computer community cope with security
issues.

The Center publishes a number of
pamphlets, posters, and books that it
will send you. You can pick up some of
these materials free at computer shows or
purchase them for a nominal fee. You
can contact the Center at 9800 Savage
Rd., Fort Meade, MD 20755, (301) 688-
8744. The Center, along with the Na¬
tional Bureau of Standards, hosts the Na¬
tional Computer Security Conference
each year. The conference is open to any¬
one and has tracks for people of all
levels. This year it’s in Baltimore, start¬
ing October 17 and running through Oc¬
tober 20. The price for the conference is
$150 before October 7 and $175 there¬
after.

Does all this sound like a lot of trou¬
ble? Well, maybe. Many systems prob¬
ably don’t need a lot of security because
they don’t do much. But think about your
other computers. What would happen to
your business if the information in them
disappeared or got to your competitors
tomorrow?

OS/2 Update

A businessman asked me about OS/2 the
other day. He wanted to know if he
should put off buying his software until
an OS/2 version came out. I advised him
not to wait.

As you may remember from my Au¬
gust column, my investigations at COM¬
DEX showed me that there was virtually
no software available for use with OS/2,
and much of what was could also be
found for MS-DOS. Since then, I’ve
gone to PC Expo. The picture hasn’t got¬
ten much better. The advice remains the
same. If you need software, and there’s a
DOS version available now, don’t wait.

Coming up in future issues—to LAN
or not to LAN? Also, does productivity
software really help productivity? ■

Wayne Rash Jr. is a member of the profes¬
sional staff of American Management
Systems, Inc. (Arlington, VA), where he
consults with the federal government on
microcomputers. You can reach him on
BIX as (t waynerash. ”

Your questions and comments are wel¬
come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, One
Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH
03458.

130 BYTE- OCTOBER 1988

$299 For 3-D CAD

you can’t 1
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You can spend thousands of dollars
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and still not get the power and
capability that DesignCAD 3-D
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for quality.

DesignCAD 3-D allows you to develop and advance
any design in 3 dimensional space, while providing you
with features such as shading, hidden line removal,
printer and plotter support. DesignCAD 3-D’s extensive
file transfer utilities allow you to: transfer documents
to and from IGES, DXF HPGL, transfer to GEM and
Post Script and to read ASCII text files and X, Y, Z
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(any angle or perspective) on the screen. Complex
extrusions, extensive 3-D text capabilities, auto
dimensioning and a host of other
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The compatibility that
DesignCAD 3-D offers you means
that it can be used with almost any
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more than 200 dot matrix printers, more than 80 plotters
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3-D can read drawings from most other CAD systems.

The best reason to buy DesignCAD 3-D is not the low
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than any of its low-cost competitors
and threatens programs costing ten
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Call or write for a detailed brochure and a free demo disk.

OCTOBER 1988 • B Y T E 131

We’ve Invented the Future of
Instrumentation Software ... Twice.

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Acquisition

Integrated libraries for GPIB, RS-232, A/D-D/A-DIO plug-in cards,
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that automatically generate source code.

Front panel user interface with virtual
instrument block diagram programming.

Analysis

Extensive libraries for data reduction, digital signal processing, and
statistical analysis.

Over 100 analysis functions plus all the
built-in functions of your language.

Over 250 icons for computation and
analysis.

Presentation

Flexible high-performance graphics and report generation.

Extensive graphics support for CGA, EGA, Macintosh Desktop Publishing compatibility.

MCGA, VGA, and Hercules.

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BYTE • OCTOBER 1988

182 for LabVIEW.

Hardware, software,
and peripherals make
the Mac a multifaceted
machine

B ack in November 1987, I was
looking for some way to reduce
the number of computers that
inhabit my office and my home.
If I could semi-retire a couple of them, I
could reclaim some valuable table space.
It was about that time that I remembered
the AST Mac286 coprocessor board I had
seen at the Boston Mac World in August
1987. In demos held for the press, this
board (which is really two boards cabled
together that occupy two NuBus slots in a
Mac II) seemed to do the job of an 8-
MHz IBM PC AT.

Well, I thought, here’s a chance to re¬
tire a couple of old ATs and still keep
basic AT/MS-DOS functionality. So I
bought a couple of these beasts, along
with a couple of Apple’s 5 *4-inch PC-
compatible floppy disk drives. Installa¬
tion was fairly painless.

In less than an hour per Mac II, I had a
dual-operating-system computer that ran
both the Mac operating system and MS-
DOS. The Mac286 even shared my exist¬
ing Mac hard disks by setting up separate
DOS partitions on them. Goodbye, ATs.
Hello, table space!

Alas, my compact-computing joy was
short-lived. I issued a DIR command in
the Mac286 window, and something
weird happened. The video scrolling be¬
came slow and jerky—practically un¬
readable. And that happened with the
standard monochrome-emulation mode
in the Mac286 window, on an Apple
color monitor.

Okay, I can fix that, I thought; I’ll try
the Hercules-emulation mode. Same
problem. Must be the monochrome emu¬
lation on a color monitor, I thought. So I

EXPERT ADVICE
MACINATIONS ■ Don Crabb

MS-DOS, MINIFANS,

Math, and Mice

tried the CGA emulation. That was even
worse. I tried running Microsoft Win¬
dows 2.03 under the Hercules emulation.
It was so slow, I gave up. In fact, after
less than a week, I gave up on the Mac286
altogether. I couldn’t get any DOS work
done with them because of the severe
video problems.

Out came the old ATs. Goodbye, table
space.

AST acknowledged the video prob¬
lems with the driver software and prom¬
ised fixes. In early June, I received its
first update, version 1.01.

What a difference a version number
makes! The video performance of the
Mac286 is dramatically improved with
the 1.01 software. It’s so much improved
that I can now use my Mac IIs for all my
DOS work.

Besides improving the display speed,
AST polished and cleaned up other parts
of the interface. MultiFinder support,
which was not quite there in version 1.0,
has been upgraded. You can now copy
DOS screens to the Mac Clipboard by
columns as well as by lines. This makes
it a snap to transfer stuff from a DOS
database, spreadsheet, or statistics file to
a Mac application.

AST will send you the 1.01 software
upgrade for free if you are a registered
Mac286 owner. If you buy the Mac286
coprocessor boards now, you’ll get the
1.01 software. In either case, the soft¬
ware update turns a clever but virtually
useless Mac II hardware accessory into a
useful, workable solution to running
DOS on a Mac.

Skeletons in 4th Dimension

Even though the promised update to 4th
Dimension (dubbed version 1.1) has
been delayed, Acius has not been sitting
back twiddling its corporate thumbs
waiting for Laurent Ribardiere to finish
it. Over the last several months, Acius
has released two inexpensive, but im¬
pressive, applications written in 4D:
MiniFans and TopGuys.

MiniFans is a compact version of the
internal corporate correspondence, cus¬
tomer-tracking, and distributed-infor¬
mation productivity system that Acius
uses every day. TopGuys is a special
database that contains information on
about 400 influential Macintosh special¬
ists, such as journalists, vendors, devel¬
opers, and so on. In short, it’s Acius
president Guy Kawasaki’s personal Ro¬
lodex of MacFolk. It’s a very useful tool,
as well as fun to rummage through.

MiniFans and (in particular) TopGuys
are excellent examples of well-behaved
and well-designed 4D applications.
Acius wants developers and users to see
how the internals work with both; that’s
part of the reason they have distributed
them. Kudos to Acius for a nice job.

Another Acius 4D application that
should be coming out soon is called Skel¬
eton, written by technical-support wiz¬
ard Dave del’Aquila (the same guy who
wrote MiniFans). I got a chance to put it
through its paces when I visited the Acius
headquarters in Cupertino in June.

Skeleton is a good name for this devel¬
oper’s tool, since it provides the frame¬
work of a typical 4D application and pro¬
vides the lowest common denominator of
functions that these applications require.
It is also fully customizable and extensi¬
ble. This “skeleton” allows a design to
be undertaken in the 4D custom environ¬
ment, which helps speed application pro¬
totyping. Skeleton should be a help to
both experienced 4D developers and nov¬
ices who need some firmer ground to
stand on while learning 4D.

Mathematica on the Mac

I’ve been using the 1.0 release of Mathe¬
matica for the Mac II for several weeks
now. Even though this release is not bug-
free and the documentation is not com¬
plete (two problems that Mathematica’s
publisher, Wolfram Research, expects to
fix before this column hits the news¬
stands), Mathematica is certainly an im-

continued

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 133

MACINATIONS

pressive piece of software.

Mathematica is a general software sys¬
tem for doing math computations. The
application will eventually run on a num¬
ber of computers, including large sys¬
tems and shared workstations (e.g., Sun,
NeXT, and IBM), but its Mac implemen¬
tation is the first and perhaps the most in¬
teresting, because it works fully with the
Mac’s user interface.

Mathematica works like a real-time
electronic whiteboard (formerly black¬
boards—how times change) that can
solve equations. You can type in your
equations using numeric forms, but you
can also use more advanced symbolic
forms. Mathematica’s symbolic process¬
ing accounts for a good measure of its
power.

You can enter simple numerical calcu¬
lations in Mathematica as you would with
an electronic calculator, using Mathema¬
tica’s syntax. For example, In[l] : =
N[log [47r]] finds the value of log (47r).
But you can also enter symbolic calcula¬
tions directly, which is something no cal¬
culator permits. For example, the entry
In[3] : = x 4 /^ 2 " 1 ) finds the formula for
the integral

\xV(x 2 - 1 )dx.

Further, you can have Mathematica
integrate this expression with the com¬
mand In[4] := Integrate [%, x]. Mathe¬
matica then finds the explicit formula for
the integral:

Out[4] = x + Lo % [ ~2 +X]

—Log[l +x]

Symbolic algebra and calculus could not
be done previously on computers of the
Mac II’s size; programs of this sort were
typically found only on minicomputers
or supercomputers. Overall, Mathema¬
tica does many different kinds of alge¬
braic computations, including expan¬
sion, factoring, and polynomial and
rational expression simplification. Alge¬
braic results for some kinds of matrix op¬
erations are also possible. In addition, as
my example above shows, Mathematica
can do calculus, evaluating derivatives
and integrals and deriving power series
approximations.

Mathematica on the Mac II with an
RGB monitor provides a dynamite full-
color display that’s especially impressive
when results are graphed in two and
three dimensions. The jazzy display is
backed by a function library of more than
400 math functions.

Items

Discussed

AST Mac286 1.01.$1599

(Software upgrade free to
registered Mac286 1.0 owners)

AST Research, Inc.

2121 Alton Ave.

Irvine, CA 92714
(714) 863-1333
Inquiry 800.

4th Dimension 1.06.$695

MiniFans 1.0.$20

Skeleton .999 .$20

TopGuys 1.0.$20

4D run-time module.$75

(MiniFans and TopGuys require
4D run-time module)

Acius, Inc.

20300 Stevens Creek Blvd.

Suite 495

Cupertino, CA 95014
(408) 252-4444

Inquiry 801.

Mathematica 1.02 Enhanced

Macintosh II Edition.$795

Mac Plus/Mac SE version . .$495
Wolfram Research, Inc.

P.O.Box 6059
Champaign, IL 61821
(217) 398-0700
Inquiry 802.

Music Mouse 1.00 for the

Macintosh.$60

Opcode Systems
1024 Hamilton Court
Menlo Park, CA 94025
(415) 321-8977
Inquiry 803.

Mathematica is something of a break¬
through product: It will give educators
an entirely new and powerful tool in
teaching mathematics. Confirmed math-
phobic students may very well be drawn
into Mathematica’s impressive displays
and its ability to solve equations quickly
and display graphical results; this could
enable them to absorb the algebra and
calculus that seemed impossible to com¬
prehend from a textbook.

Of Mice and Music

As good as Mathematica is, there is more
to life than plotting functions or deriving
a Taylor series. The publisher of Music
Mouse, Opcode Systems, knows this.
Music Mouse takes an approach to mak¬
ing music that is similar to Mathemati¬

ca’s approach to manipulating mathe¬
matics: Neither requires you to be an
expert in the field to make good use of it.

Music Mouse is a control application
that lets your Macintosh make music all
by itself, or with the aid of an external
speaker or stereo system, or through an
external MIDI (musical instrument digi¬
tal interface) synthesizer. Music Mouse
also works as a stand-alone controller for
MIDI synthesizers that do not have a
keyboard.

It’s difficult for me to explain how
Music Mouse works since it’s such a vis¬
ceral experience. But here goes, anyway.

Once you start the application, you can
control the music you’re creating by
moving the mouse and pressing keys on
the keyboard. The Mac screen gives you
an x,y grid display with two different
melodic lines that are “wired” to the
jc-axis and y-axis movements of the
mouse. The application sticks in two ad¬
ditional melodic lines, so you have four
voices all told.

These two application-supplied lines
track the ones you are creating with the
mouse, and they can be varied with key¬
board control (as can pitch, tempo, and
so forth). The screen display gives you
some visual feedback for the music
created, using what Opcode calls a poly¬
phonic cursor to show the “motion” of
the music, as well as the pitch. While the
effect and action are hard to describe, the
results are stunning, even without hook¬
ing up a MIDI synthesizer.

The one big omission with Music
Mouse is recording: As yet, it doesn’t
have a direct recording mode. However,
you could use a macro recorder like
Tempo II, AutoMac III, or the Macro-
Maker CDEV (supplied with System 6.0)
to record a Music Mouse session. Just
make sure that you use the real-time re¬
cording modes for these utilities; other¬
wise, your music will sound strange,
indeed.

The Music Mouse can be used by first¬
time and professional musicians. If
you’re a novice, it’s fun to explore some
basics of music composition using this
application. One caveat: It won’t run
properly under MultiFinder. ■

Don Crabb is the director of laboratories
and a senior lecturer for the University of
Chicago department of computer sci¬
ence. He is also a consulting editor for
BYTE. He can be reached on BIX as
<( decrabb. ”

Your questions and comments are wel¬
come. Write to: Editor , BYTE , One
Phoenix Mill Lane , Peterborough , NH
03458.

134 BYTE- OCTOBER 1988

Circle 171 on Reader Service Card

FREE DeskPaint

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Affordable line art and halftones
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The DeskPaint™ Software
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It crops, sizes, details, lightens, darkens
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PR1NTF("Who are you 1
REACT I'Z'-l am'. H'
PR INTF ("VnPleaoe ent<
SCANT (*tN*. aalesflli
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replaoed by

span primary
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575-72-1638 Jackson

S/AH

(OPEN (inf:

REP LACErriLENAME-81;UPDATE;PH-PROMPT;",*81

PRINTF(*\n\n»A(cS9) tD'rtsS/dd yyyy - DAYS

*- REPORT-* . }date

LOCATE(Inf 1 la,*NAHE<*.from name,NCMORE)
READNEXTdnfile.ssn,salesman,division. PTI
/■ road the not racord In table (may be
while (|! EON(Inf 1la))

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by LOCATE ()

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lastnama - TRIF
FMRITEF(stdout,

$$$, $# IV. 99CR '
amount

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READNEXTIlnf I

coswe

CLOSE(inflla|
PRINTF (** • • Er

/•-rile Spec, for creating a S/AM file -

\*_Note: 82 are to be replaced by actual fl

atrcpy(createf1lespec."FILENAME-82; ENCRYPT- AUTO

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PARTTYPE (21 -A ; PT(1>-N

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; /• S/AM

; /» SUPERIOR

UserSoft/C is the
Business C

UserSoft Business C is the finan¬
cial C compiler that makes sense
to both clients and programmers.

It is not just another C compiler.

Compare the functions:

UserSoft Business C is a superset
of Power C, Microsoft C and
Turbo C. It has over 1,000 standard
and business development func¬
tions. The SuperlOR component
of UserSoft Business C has the
input/output features of COBOL,
PL/1, FORTRAN and BASIC and
yet can read financially for¬
matted data (eg. $2,109.87 CR).
UserSoft Business C has 36
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OCTOBER 1988 • B Y T E

137

Get your

work done before

The future of personal computing is dear. More
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Experts are voting for
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If all of this sounds like promises you've
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;ave DESQview its
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.why, by popular vote at
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DESQview lets you have it all now.

EDITOR'S

CHOICE

NOV. 24,1987

_ INFO 1986
WORLD AND 19871

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O F T H E

YEAR

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DESQview 2.0

□ 5-1/4 □ 3-1/2

$129.95

QEMM-386

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138 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Circle 221 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 222)

When it comes to
performance, there’s a
price to pay for all those
nifty OS/2 features

O S/2 is more important to an
OS/2 application than DOS is
to a DOS application. Given
that, how does OS/2 perform
relative to DOS? Rarely better, often
only a wee bit worse, and sometimes a lot
worse. As a multitasking platform, it
performs better than expected.

How do I know? Simple—I ran some
benchmarks. Benchmarks are one of
life’s sordid pleasures. Artists often say,
“Everyone’s a critic.” Hardware and
software designers could say, “Every¬
one’s a benchmarker.” Another reason
to do benchmarks is the interesting mail
you get after writing articles.

OS/2 is more important to an OS/2 ap¬
plication than DOS is to a DOS applica¬
tion because, as I said last month, OS/2 is
a true operating system and DOS is not.
If a DOS application needs to write to the
screen, it can allow DOS services to do
it, or it can write directly to the video
buffer itself. Allowing DOS to put the
characters on the screen ensures com¬
patibility across machines and versions
of DOS, but it sacrifices speed. A DOS
application requiring snappy screens can
always opt to bypass DOS. Under OS/2,
an application’s I/O must go through the
operating system—hence the interest in
OS/2’s performance.

An associate and I have benchmarked
OS/2 services, using a combination of
simple programs and more complex sys¬
tems to answer a number of questions.
The questions and answers, summa¬
rized, follow. (Note: Whenever I say
“OS/2,” I mean “protected-mode
OS/2,” unless I specifically mention
OS/2’s DOS-compatibility box.)

EXPERT ADVICE

OS/2 NOTEBOOK ■ MarkMinasi

The Good News
and the
Bad News

Does a program run faster under DOS or
under OS/2 ?

OS/2 is, in general, up to 20 percent
slower than DOS, except for disk I/O.
Unbuffered disk I/O is about 50 percent
slower under OS/2.

Does a program run faster under DOS or
under the OS/2 DOS-compatibility box?

The compatibility box runs programs
up to 4 percent slower than DOS, except
for disk I/O. Disk I/O can be 50 percent
(or more) slower under the compatibility
box.

Microsoft claims improved video I/O with
OS/2. Are OS/2 video writes faster?

In some cases, yes: TYPE writes to the
screen over twice as quickly under OS/2.
In other cases, the result is a toss-up.

If you run multiple programs under OS/2,
how great is the multitasking overhead?

Fairly low. It appears that you pay for
multitasking up front, with the 10 to 20

percent system overhead. Extra per-task
overhead is fairly small, no larger than 2
percent.

How does the compatibility box affect
OS/2 multitasking overhead?

Radically. By design, the compatibil¬
ity box does not run at all when in the
background. When the compatibility box
is running a DOS program in the fore¬
ground, the background OS/2 processes
slow down by a factor of 100 to 500 times.

How does the choice of processor chip af¬
fect DOS versus OS/2 comparisons?

Surprisingly, the ratios of DOS times
to OS/2 times do not vary much from the
80286 chip to the 80386 chip.

How much slower or faster does a pro¬
gram run in OS/2 background, compared
to foreground?

That depends on the PRI0RITY= pa¬
rameter. With PRI0RITY=ABSOLUTE,
there is no difference for CPU-intensive
tasks. Screen writes are actually slower
in the foreground than in the back¬
ground, because background screen
writes are made to regular memory,
while foreground screen writes are made
to slower video memory.

With PRI0RITY=DYNAMIC, the back¬
ground process seems to wait for the
foreground process to complete before it
starts. (Yes, it’s strange, and I’ll explain
further next month.)

Now let’s look in detail at the bench¬
marks.

To the Bench

What would a benchmark suite be
without the venerable Sieve of Eratosthe¬
nes? We ran the Sieve (a general com¬
pute-bound integer program), the Savage
test (a floating-point test), and three tests
designed to isolate video response and
disk speed.

To ensure consistency, we used Mi-

continued

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 139

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OS/2 NOTEBOOK

Table 1: Differences in

the architectures of Intel’s 80x86 microprocessors

have led to the development of different memory models.

Memory

Number of code

Number of data

model

segments

Tiny

One single segment shared for code and data

Small

Medium

Multiple

Compact

Multiple

Large

Multiple

Huge

Multiple: data structures can be > 64K bytes

crosoft’s dual-mode C and BASIC com¬
pilers to generate both real-mode (DOS)
and protected-mode (OS/2) code from
the same source. Whenever possible, we
just compiled and linked one program,
then bound it. (“Bind” is Microsoft’s
term for subjecting a program to a con¬
verter that renders it able to run under
DOS or OS/2.)

Absurdities in the architectures of the
Intel line of processors have led to a num¬
ber of “memory models” for 80x86 pro¬
grams, as shown in table 1. Examples of
programs in the small and medium cate¬
gories include many small utility pro¬
grams and, of course, benchmarking
programs, but few of the large popular
business applications.

The Sieve benchmark ran 1 or 2 per¬
cent slower in the compatibility box and 4
or 5 percent slower under OS/2 (see fig¬
ure 1). However, with larger memory
models, OS/2 was up to 44% slower on a
386 machine and 18% slower on an IBM
PC AT (due, no doubt, to their different
memory architectures.)

Results of the Savage test (see figure 2)
were consistent; the compatibility box
slowed the programs by a few percent,
and OS/2 slowed them by about ten per¬
cent on the 386 and 5 percent on the AT.

We tested video I/O with a simple test
designed to TYPE a file to the screen 100
times—first under DOS, then under
OS/2. The tests were done on a 16-MHz
80386 with a Compaq VGA board.

Under DOS, the task took 60.4 sec¬
onds, while OS/2 took 27.1 seconds. Im¬
pressive. But then we created a simple
program that writes lines to the screen
until it runs out of time (15 seconds). The
results contradicted those of the first test.
In this case, DOS was able to write 2171
lines, while OS/2 wrote only 1820 lines.
We wrote the program in Microsoft
BASIC and compiled it for both DOS and
OS/2, using the BASIC 6.0 dual-mode
compiler. Obviously, OS/2 screen han¬
dling can be faster than DOS, but not al¬
ways, depending on how you do it.

Disk Access

Our preliminary tests showed that OS/2
was a bit slower at disk access than DOS.
The Norton Utilities provided a simple
test: We ran DISKTEST under DOS, and
then in the compatibility box. With disk
caching enabled, OS/2 operated nearly
as fast as DOS without a cache enabled.
Without the cache, OS/2’s performance
was miserable: 1369.8 seconds, com¬
pared to 90.3 seconds for DOS.

OS/2’s performance (relative to DOS)
suffers significantly in programs that do
a lot of disk input and output and for pro¬
grams that use more than 64K bytes of
data. While the first category may not
apply to many programs, recall that
large memory access was one of the prin¬
cipal reasons for developing OS/2 in the
first place. Good disk performance is, of
course, important for many applications.

As a final DOS versus OS/2 compari¬
son, we used C code from an August
1984 BYTE article, “Benchmarking
UNIX Systems” by David F. Hinnant.
The results are shown in table 2. One in¬
teresting number comes up: Notice that,
despite the fact that all the C programs
run faster under DOS than under OS/2,
the Dhrystone runs faster under OS/2!
Bear in mind that there is nothing in the
Dhrystone that isn’t in the other tests.
Could there be a “benchmark detector”
in the Microsoft C 5.1 compiler?

OS/2 Tip of the Month:

Making DOS and OS/2 Coexist

If you use the Microsoft Developer’s
Toolkit, you know that Microsoft in¬
cluded a neat feature whereby your pro¬
gram will prompt you at boot time with

Boot: Enter for OS/2, ESC for DOS

By pressing the Escape key or the Enter
key, you can boot either operating sys¬
tem. It’s called the “dual boot” feature.
For some unknown reason, IBM left it
out of its OS/2.

continued

140 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

OS/2 NOTEBOOK

(a)

Memory model

□ IBM PC-DOS 3.30 □ MS OS/2 3.x Box □ MS OS/2

(b)

Figure 1: According to my tests with small memory models, the Sieve of Eratosthenes took somewhat longer to run in the
compatibility box and in OS/2 protected mode than in DOS. Using larger memory models, however, OS/2 took as much as 44
percent longer on a 16-MHz Trillion Power Systems 386 (a), and 18percent longer on an 8-MHz IBM PC AT (b).

OCTOBER 1988 • B Y T E 141

OS/2 NOTEBOOK

(a)

100.0 --

90.0 --

80.0

70.0

£ 60.0

* 50.0 --

■o

$ 40.0

30.0

20.0

10.0

0.0

80.25 80.00 79.63 73 43 79.51 73.55 80.87 80.00 79.51 78 55

72.02 ■■ Hi ~| 72.02

69.71

—

69.33

■H

Small

Medium

Compact

Large
Memory model

□ IBM PC-DOS 3.30 □ MS OS/2 3.x Box □ MS OS/2

Huge

(b)

20.0 j
18.0 --
16.0
14.0
12.0
10.0
8.0
6.0
4.0
2.0
0.0

.. 15.75 15.61

15.02

15.75 15.61

14.98

15.75 15.61 15.75 i 5 . 6 1 15.73

- 14.97

15.61

14.97

Small

Medium

Compact

□ IBM PC-DOS 3.30

Large
Memory model

□ MS OS/2 3.x Box □ MS OS/2

Huge

Figure 2: Floating point rate (in kiloflops) of the Savage floating point benchmark run under DOS, the OS/2 compatibility box,
and OS/2 protected mode. Note that the compatibility box slowed the programs by a few percent, while OS/2 slowed them by
about 10percent on the Trillion Power Systems 386 (a), and 5 percent on the IBM PC AT (b).

142 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Circle 119 on Reader Service Card

OS/2 NOTEBOOK

Why return to DOS, when we have the
compatibility box? Well, I’ll take the
matter up entirely in a later column, but
basically because the compatibility box
is only about 80 percent compatible with
DOS, and because it severely restricts
your working space (maximum available
memory is not 640K bytes, but about
530K bytes). Take my advice: Don’t
burn the DOS manual yet.

The answer: Partition your hard disk
drive into C and D drives, using the
DOS FDISK command. Format the sepa¬
rate drives. Put your DOS data on drive
D, and set up OS/2 to boot from drive
C. There is no way to FORMAT D:/S
under DOS, but the next best thing is to
create a separate boot floppy disk. Just
put your usual AUTOEXEC.BAT file on it,

Table 2: Results of UNIX benchmarks run under DOS, the OS/2
compatibility box, OS/2 protected mode, and OS/2 with an editor running in the
compatibility box in the foreground. (Times normalized to 1.00 for DOS 3.3.)

DOS Compat. Pure OS/2 w/editor j

Test name 3.3 box OS/2 in compat. box j

Copy char array

1.00

1.02

1.06

N/A

Copy char array using pointers

1.00

1.01

1.05

111.11

Loop using auto int indexes

1.00

1.01

1.05

111.11

Loop using static int indexes

1.00

1.01

1.05

111.11

Loop using 2 register variables

1.00

1.01

1.06

104.17

Loop using 5 register variables

1.00

1.01

1.05

108.87

Int arithmetic

1.00

1.01

1.05

100.00

Long int arithmetic

1.00

1.05

90.91

Float arithmetic

1.00

1.03

1.16

100.00

Double arithmetic

1.00

1.06

1.14

142.86

Address arithmetic w/char ptr

1.00

1.01

1.05

111.11

Address arithmetic w/struct ptr

1.00

1.01

1.05

90.91

User C function call overhead

1.00

1.04

90.91

System call overhead (getpid)

1.00

1.01

24.39

N/A

Library string length function

1.00

1.01

1.09

90.91

Library string copy function

1.00

1.01

1.08

100.00

Library string compare function

1.00

1.01

1.06

100.00

Savage floating-point test

1.00

1.01

1.10

111.11

Dhrystone general benchmark

1.00

1.01

0.88

90.91

Copy file, buffered stream I/O

1.00

1.22

1.10

111.11

Copy file, unbuff low-level I/O

1.00

1.88

1.34

N/A

Copy file, buff stream blocks

1.00

1.01

1.05

142.86

Copy file, unbuff low-lvl blocks

1.00

1.01

1.14

111.11

Seek/read in file, buf stream

1.00

1.33

1.11

200.00

Seek/read in file, unbuf low-lvl

1.00

1.54

1.23

500.00

Dummy report with qsort

1.00

1.37

22.73

Dummy report with shellshort 1.00

N/A refers to timer overflow or lack of comparability.

2.07

1.95

N/A

then add the lines

set comspec=d:\command.com

and you’re all set. Then write IBM a let¬
ter demanding the dual boot feature in
the next release of OS/2.

Next month, I’ll take a look at multi¬
tasking benchmarks: benchmarking
OS/2 against itself. ■

Mark Minasi is a managing partner at
Moulton, Minasi & Company, a Colum¬
bia, Maryland, firm specializing in tech¬
nical seminars. He can be reached on
BIX as “mjminasi. ”

Your questions and comments are wel¬
come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, One Phoe¬
nix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458.

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OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 143

Intel announces

Attempt
file transfer.

Announcing the first non-stop communications route
between businesses anywhere in the world.

Intel’s Connection Coprocessor"

It’s a whole new way to send and receive programs,
files, text, graphics and electronic messages. Not just
between PCs, but with fax machines as well.

The Intel Connection is a new
communications coprocessing board
that frees your PC from the task of
communicating.

Which means you can work on your
computer non-stop—even while

sending a document as big as the New York phone book.

Now your faxes or files can fly cross country. And you
can still be zooming around in your flight simulator. Or
writing that letter to your biggest account. Or recalculating
your spreadsheets for tomorrow’s meeting.Without
interruption or downtime.

And when you fax, there are no
more stopovers at the printer, or
cooling your heels in line at the fax
machine. Because Connection lets you
do everything without leaving your PC.
And when you send files directly to

® 1988 In ‘ el Corporation. Connection Coprocessor is a trademark of Intel Corporation. WordPerfect is a registered trademark ofWordPerfect Corp. AshtonTate is a registered trademark of AshtonTate Corporation. Borland is a registered
Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. *CAS (DCA/Intel Communicating Application Specification.)

144 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Resend document,
cross fingers

Work through
lunch to make up
for lost time.

Finally, you send,
but FAX line is busy

another Connection-equipped PC,you won’t have to fiddle
around with modem parameters or protocols. Because the
Connection Coprocessor sets them for you. At 9600 bps.

Best of all, Connection supports CASfa new
communication standard that is supported by major
software and hardware developers like Ashton-Tatef
Borlandf DCA®Microsoftf and WordPerfect® Which
means you can send, for example, a word processing
file to your London office, without ever exiting your
WordPerfect program.

You just send the document directly from your
application.That’s it.There isn’t any complicated

communications software to learn.

And everything is backed by toll-free technical
support and a five-year warranty from Intel.

So what are you waiting for? Call 800-538-3373 now
for a free demo disk.

Because with Intel’s Connection Coprocessor,
communication is really going to take off.

irrtel

Circle 120 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 • B Y T E 144A

Tomorrow’s LAN Solutions - Today.

EtherLAN Plus /The Affordable Ethernet Solution

In today’s LAN world, every new
LAN manufacturer seems to have a
new idea of what a network should
be. Standards for the industry are
few and far between, but are there
if you want to pay for them.

Wouldn’t it be nice if for once you
could buy a LAN system, at a price
you can afford, and be fully
compatible with the ethernet
standard? Well now you can!

Turn Key Ethernet

EtherLAN is here to give
you everything you need to
set up an ethernet LAN
system. You’ll receive the
EtherLAN network adapter,
25 feet of thinwire ethernet
coax cable, T connector
and easy to understand
Installation and User’s
Guides, all for one low
price. In addition to this,
you’ll also receive

Even better yet, you can use
standard DOS commands to
control your network, so you are
not stuck spending hours to learn a
new set of commands. The
operating system functions
transparently, so you won’t even
know you’re on a network.

Features You Can Rely On.

• Fully ethernet and cheapernet
compatible (IEEE 802.3).

• Fast — a full 10,000,000 bit per
second.

• Low memory requirements.

• NETBIOS compatible.

• Everything you need is included
at one low price.

The best news of all is
the price.

At only $699.95 per node, you
get all hardware, software, cabling
and manuals needed.

Introductory Offer

EtherLAN 6 Node Comparison

500 Kbytes

Read and Write

Retail

EtherLAN

11 and 10 seconds

$4199

3Com®

14 and 12 seconds

$5670*

Novell SFT®

10 and 9 seconds

$8265*

’Figures from PC Magazine.

complete software needed to get
your new EtherLAN system up and
running quickly. You’ll get
NETBIOS software and also a
complete network operating system
to make using your new EtherLAN
system even easier.

SimpIeWARE" Makes
EtherLAN Unbeatable

The operating system you’ll get
works as a shell above DOS, so all
your normal DOS programs will run
on EtherLAN as well as locally.

144B BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

NO dedicated servers are
required.

Transparent operation —operates
as a shell above DOS.

Four Node Kit for only
$2499.00. Save over
$300.00.

With features like
these, and an
affordable price
per node, how can
you lose?

Call Toll Free

1 - 800 - 262-8010

1-714-529-8850 (in CA)

Easy to use DOS type
commands or pop up menus.

Share disks, subdirectories,
printers and plotters.

DOS file and record locking.

Up to 5 printers per server.

Time and Date sharing.

Electronic Message System.

VISA, M/C, COD, or
Prepaid orders accepted.

See us at COMDEX Booth #B1540

Simple Net Systems, Inc.

545 W. Lambert Rd., Suite A
Brea, CA 92621
FAX: (714) 529-2413

Requires IBM PC/XT /AT or compatible, running DOS 3.10 or
higher. EtherLAN is a registered trademark of Simple Net
Systems, Inc. Other brand and product names are trademarks
of their respective holders.

Circle 239 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 240)

Will Prodigy, the latest
incarnation of
computer conferencing
for the masses, bring
information services to
a home near you?

I n the 1950s, futurists claimed that
people in the 1980s would be com¬
muting from their rooftops via per¬
sonal helicopters, filing flight
plans instead of fighting freeways. In
1959, U.S. Postmaster General Arthur
E. Summerfield predicted, “Before man
reaches the moon, your mail will be de¬
livered from New York to California, to
India, or to Australia by guided missiles.
We stand on the verge of rocket mail. ”
History ultimately betrayed these pre¬
dictions. Certainly in today’s high-tech,
ultrahip global village, such outlandish
predictions would not be foisted on the
public, would they? Don’t believe it at
all. Let’s go back to the future for a
minute.

It’s early in the 1980s, and the bur¬
geoning information age is being hyped
by two videotex systems: Times Mirror’s
Gateway and Knight-Ridder’s Viewtron.
A perfect marriage, or so it seemed. The
parent companies dealt in delivering in¬
formation. They thrived on it. So now
they sought to launch the next wave in in¬
formation delivery: news and assorted
esoteric services delivered via your TV.

However, both services flamed out.
They were victims of high operating
costs, perplexing user interfaces, and—
most of all—flaccid consumer response.
These companies should have known bet¬
ter than to make the American family
choose between reading the day’s head¬
lines and watching (reruns

notwithstanding). M*A *5*// won hands
down.

EXPERT ADVICE
COM1: ■ Brock N. Meeks

Back to the
Future Again

Back to the Drawing Board

Still, the idea of electronically delivered
services, accessible from the comfort of
your home, is a good idea. And a good
idea has a way of hanging around until
the time is right. Say hello to a good idea:
Prodigy, the information-age equivalent
of personal helicopters (easing daily
tasks) and rocket mail (offering effective
and inexpensive communications).

“We see our major competition being
the traditional way people go about doing
their everyday tasks,” says Robert
Caviglia, Prodigy’s branch sales man¬
ager in the San Francisco area. There is a
small catch. Prodigy’s success is di¬
rectly linked to the infiltration of micro¬
computers into the American home. By
industry estimates, there are roughly 13
million of them in homes today, with
slightly over 1 million of those hooked to
a modem. Prodigy believes the Ameri¬
can home is just now beginning to realize
that having a microcomputer is more than
a novelty.

“People aren’t afraid of the PC any¬
more,” says Dave Waks, Prodigy’s di¬
rector of technology and a charter mem¬
ber of its development team. “We are a
service for people who want to use the
PC to accomplish things, to make their
lives easier, use their time better, gratify
themselves, educate themselves.”

Making the Future Work

With a work force of some 750 people,
the Prodigy team has cleared extensive
technical hurdles (like building its own
network to carry Prodigy services) and is
now working on attracting the paying
customer. Three initial markets were
chosen in June: San Francisco, Atlanta,
and Hartford, Connecticut.

There are two prime factors in Prodi¬
gy’s success equation: price and perfor¬
mance. Pricewise, a flat fee of $9.95 per
month allows you unlimited access to the
service. This “all you can eat” fee may
be Prodigy’s savior. Other on-line ser-

continued

OCTOBER 1988 • BYTE 144C

C0M1:

vices charge on a per hour basis. If you
use Prodigy just for its electronic mail,
you’ll more than make up the $9.95.

And for that flat fee, you get up to six
accounts. That means six different peo¬
ple can use the system for the same price.
Each account has a different ID number.

Prodigy’s ability to offer a low rate
stems from two factors. First, its low rate
is largely subsidized by more than 80 na¬
tional companies, each paying upward of
$20,000 for the privilege of advertising
to Prodigy users. It’s a captive market:
When you shift to a different screen, a
new inescapable ad pops up along the
bottom six lines of your screen.

Some critics decry these ads as a viola¬
tion of personal screen space, as if screen
space were sacrosanct. Prodigy execu¬
tives offer no apology. Part of their role,
they say, in helping to make people’s
lives easier and more efficient is the of¬
fering of services or products tailored to
an individual’s interests. The extent of
this ad tailoring depends on the user.

When first using Prodigy, you are
given the option of filling in a detailed in¬
terest summary. The more specific you
get, the better Prodigy is able to tailor

what kind of ads show up on your screen.
This tailoring raises the specter of pri¬
vacy violations. Will Prodigy be able to
track my individual purchasing habits?
Will my interest survey be sold to hun¬
dreds of commercial companies trolling
for new customers? “No,” says Brian
Ek. “The surveys are completely confi¬
dential and will not be used for anything
beyond gathering statistics to show to po¬
tential advertisers. No names are used,
no personal information released.”

Should an ad pique your interest, you
can instantly get more information sim¬
ply by pressing the L key and diving into
a window that further explains the prod¬
uct. This is a handier way of gaining
more information on a product than fill¬
ing out one of those ad cards found in
magazines. Besides, filling out those
cards usually lands your name on some -
one's mailing list, and who needs their
name on another mailing list? And if you
find you really like the product you’re
looking at, you can order it right on the
spot.

The second factor in Prodigy’s low
price is how it approaches performance.
Rather than depending on a dumb termi¬

nal, where the user is a slave to the re¬
mote system, Prodigy makes the PC the
master; the system is the slave.

Prodigy’s design takes full advantage
of the intelligence built into the PC.
(Currently, Prodigy is available only for
the IBM PC and compatibles. Apple II
owners will have access later this year,
and Mac owners early in 1989.) All the
information needed to navigate and re¬
trieve information from Prodigy is stored
in the PC.

If you’re doing something on Prodigy
and the information to perform that task
isn’t stored on your PC, only then does it
query a remote computer, usually the
local Prodigy site. “Your computer
grabs the information it needs and stores
it for future use,” says Waks. In this
sense, the system actually gains perfor¬
mance the more you use it. If the local
site doesn’t have the information you
need, it then queries the main database in
White Plains, New York.

“But the nice thing about the local host
accessing the White Plains computer is
that it stores the information you’ve
asked for and can deliver it on demand to

continued

Wherever your business takes you, take along
the WorldPort 2400™ Portable Modem. Leaving
the office doesn’t have to mean leaving behind
the world of high-speed, 2400 bps communica¬
tions. Worldwide, in virtually every situation,
including hotel rooms and phone booths, your
ability to communicate clearly and efficiently
remains intact.

Representing the cutting edge of modem tech¬
nology, the WorldPort line of portable modems
combine a broad range of features that bring
you the best value in modems today. Features

that go far beyond costly internal units, such as
Bell and CCITT standards, direct connect and
acoustic interface (300 and 1200 bps), battery
power, shirt pocket size, and a tiny price.

In fact, the WorldPort modems are the ultimate
for both portable and desktop applications. And
the WorldPort 2400 comes with Carbon Copy
PLUS™ communications software, for even
greater value.

If you want a modem that works where you do,
put the WorldPort Series to work for you. In

the office. On the road. Or at home. For more
information about our full line of WorldPort
modems, or the name of your nearest dealer,
call us at 800-541-0345. (In New York, 516-
261-0423.)

Touchbase Systems, Inc.
160 Laurel Avenue
Northport, NY 11768
(516) 261-0423
TELEX: 6502848020
FAX: (516) 754-3491

■ ■■

WorldPort 2400 is a trademark of Touchbase Systems. Inc. Carbon Copy PLUS is a trademark of Meridian Technology, Inc.

144D BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Circle 266 on Reader Service Card

NO OTHER DESKTOP
PUBLISHING SYSTEM OFFERS

THIS FEATURE.

With the new Mannes-
mann Tally® Universal™ Publishing
System, you can practically fly.

Thanks to a Raster Image
Processor board that plugs directly
into your PC or compatible, you’ll
process your pages at a speed lim¬
ited only by the speed of your
computer. Not—as is typical—at
the speed of the printer. And you’ll
transfer ready-to-print data directly
to the printer through a video
interface at an incredible 3-million
bits per second.

So when you’re using the
PostScript® compatible interpreter,
you’ll produce a printed page
almost twice as fast as most other
systems. But that’s just ground
speed.

If you use Aldus* Page¬
Maker or Ventura Publisher,®you’ll

Circle 150 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 151)

■ Systems:

1. Universal Publishing System (includes a
PostScript compatible interpreter and Docu¬
ment Description Language (DDL))

2. DDL Publishing System (DDL only).

■ Resolution: 300 x 300 dpi.

■ Emulations: Both systems include HP*
LaserJet.

■ Memory: 2 Mg.

■ Typefaces: UPS includes 35 typefaces, DDL
System includes 22 typefaces.

■ Speed: 10 pages-per-minute.

■ Dual paper cassettes standard, 250 sheets
each.

■ Dual output bins standard, 250 sheets each.

■ Manual feed handles single sheets, enve¬
lopes, transparencies, and labels.

■ Workload: 10,000 pages-per-month.

really take off. Because when you
select DDL instead of the PostScript
compatible interpreter, you’ll double
that speed again. And with full page
bitmap graphics, you can get print¬
ed output up to 17 times as fast.

So call the number below
for the name of your nearest dealer
and log in your time on the New
Mannesmann Tally Universal
Publishing System. A pilot’s license
is not required.

MANNESMANN

TALLY

1-800-8431347

Ext. 162

In Washington state, call:

206-251-5524 Ext. 162

Test results available upon request. PostScript is a registered trade
mark of Adobe Systems, Inc. DDL is a registered trademark of
Imagen Corp. Ventura Publisher is a registered trademark of Ven¬
tura Corp. Pagemaker is a registered trademark of Aldus Corp.

OCTOBER 1988 • B Y T E 145

Wll newr have to wait for
a mainframe again.

Microsoft just eliminated a 3000-pound headache for main¬
frame programmers. With Microsoft® COBOL Optimizing
Compiler 3.0.

Now instead of endlessly waiting for mainframe time, you can
bring your COBOL programs right down to the PC on your
desk. Suddenly you’ve got control unknown in other platforms,
as well as serious speed and power.

You’ve got full MS ® OS/2 support to let you break the640K
memory barrier.

You’ve got fast execution because Microsoft COBOL is now a
native code compiler.

You’ve got a rich development environment thanks to the
Microsoft COBOL Animator source level debugger, Microsoft
Editor and other powerful utilities.

One final assurance. BecauseMicrosoftCOBOL3.0isnow
mainframe COBOL compatible, you’ll enjoy a seamless flow of
source code between mainframe and PC environments.

Feel free to also enjoy the
highly. technical information in
the adjacent column. Then call
us at800-541-1261 formore
information and the dealer
nearest you.

The mainframe wait is over
with Microsoft COBOL 3.0. Ap¬
pearing soon on a PC near you.

Microsoft *

© 1988Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft, the Microsoft bgo, MS and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft COBOL Optimizing Compilerversion 3.0is based on COBOL/2from Micro Focus.

C0M1:

Microsoft COBOL
Optimizing Compiler
Version 3.0 for
MS OS/2 and MS-DOS®

Complete COBOL Solution
for Application Maintenance
and Development on the PC.

• Develop and port large mainframe
applications on the PC

• Break the 640K barrier with OS/2
support including dynamic link librar¬
ies and multi-thread support. NEW!

• Develop programs that run in both
MS-DOS and OS/2. NEW!

• Compatible with several different
COBOL dialects. (IBM® VS
COBOL H,™ IBM OS/VS™ COBOL,
IBM SAA, Data General, and others.)

• Call Microsoft C and Macro Assembler
routines. NEW!

• HUGE memory model allows data
items to be greater than 64K. NEW!

• Full network support with record and
file locking including Novell. NEW!

Powerful

COBOL Development
Environment

• Animator source level debugger.
NEW!

Trace execution, backtracking,
breakpoint DO statements, and
periodic breakpoints.

• Microsoft Editor, the programmer’s
editor for both MS OS/2 and
MS-DOS. NEW!

Reconfigurable and extendable
editor that even lets you run your
programs from within it.

• Incremental linker for MS OS/2
performs partial links up to 20 times
faster than a full link - only changed
modules are relinked. NEW!

ANSI 85 COBOL
support NEW!

• Certified HIGH by National
Bureau of Standards.

• Structured language enhancements:
Scope delimiters

In-line PERFORM statement
CALL BY CONTENT statement
EVALUATE statement
Negated conditions
Global variables
Reference modifications
Nested programs

Native Code compiler
with fast execution.
NEW!

• lOx faster computations than
MS COBOL 2.2.

• 30% faster I/O than MS COBOL 2.2

another user,” Waks adds.

The demonstration I was given per¬
formed flawlessly, and the full-color
graphics screens were quick, even at
1200 bits per second.

What’s Here

Prodigy has been branded with the title
“Stodigy,” apparently because it offers
no innovation and less in the way of use¬
ful services. Nothing could be further
from the truth.

True, I found the user interface too
splashy for my tastes and, yes, a bit sim¬
plistic. But the system was designed to at¬
tract a mass market—to augment peo¬
ple’s lives, not turn them into computer
experts.

Will on-line veterans find any use for
Prodigy? Of course. Its E-mail feature
alone is worth the monthly price. And
when Prodigy brings its conferencing ca¬
pability on-line, in the form of special¬
ized bulletin board-type services, the
system just might attract more than a few
power users.

Prodigy’s mnemonic menu system (M
for menu, H for help) is a welcome sight.
If you don’t want to deal with a menu,
you can use a jump command and bypass
a lot of on-screen real estate. In addition,
you can set up a self-directed personal
path that leads you sequentially through
the system, visiting only areas of interest
to you. Navigating your personal path en¬
tails only hitting the Enter key.

The system contains all the informa¬
tion that you’d expect on such a service:
news, weather, and special information,
like material from Consumer Reports.
(An interesting side note: No advertising
screens are visible while accessing Con¬
sumer Reports. As in the hard-copy pub¬
lication, it is devoid of all ads. This tells
me that Prodigy is likely to deal with fu¬
ture information providers concerned
about what types of ads people are sub¬
jected to while accessing their particular
database. Nice touch.)

Travel information is available. And
soon you’ll be able to order airline tick¬
ets, too.

There’s a panel of 40 experts writing
daily columns, from Howard Cosell on
anything to Jane Fonda on fitness to Rob¬
ert Novak on politics. And you can send
E-mail to any of these experts, with a
promised personal reply within 72
hours.

I was all set to really slam these col¬
umns as superficial until I read Novak’s
column. Novak wrote about the selection
of a keynote speaker for the Democratic
national convention. He outlined a fiery
controversy over the choice. Good stuff.

Tightly written in just over 80 words. But
the biggest surprise: I read the same in¬
formation, almost verbatim, in his syndi¬
cated newspaper column 3 days later. By
using Prodigy, I had, in fact, scooped
millions of newspaper readers.

You can access stock quotes on a 15-
minute delay, as per SEC requirements.
You can also buy and sell stocks via
Prodigy and track your portfolio by
using a type of personal path system for
setting up a series of stock symbols.

And there’s much more coming down
the pike—grocery delivery, for one
thing. You can imagine how welcome it
will be for a San Francisco couple to sim¬
ply type in a shopping list and have the
order delivered at a predetermined time.
No hassling with lines; no scheduling
one’s time around the supermarket.

There’s also a wide variety of enter¬
tainment and educational services. One
particularly intriguing game called GEO
puts you in charge of aJfictitious corpora¬
tion. Over the course of a few weeks, you
drive the company, making decisions
about mergers, product development,
and capital investment. You play against
several other Prodigy users, and at the
end of the game, your position is ranked
with the others. It’s a cutthroat game that
any corporate barracuda will love.

Will It Work?

Prodigy does have its problems. The
most perplexing one is that distribution
of software and documentation has been
terribly inadequate. People have waited
months to receive their materials. Prod¬
igy officials say this is “demand out¬
stripping supply,” but insiders cop to the
real reasons: poor planning and poor
choice of distributor. As of this writing
the problems still exist, but word has it
that Prodigy is aware of the hassle and is
doing what it can to fix the mess.

Success is often a matter of definition.
If Prodigy succeeds only in educating the
American market to the fact that on-line
electronic services are available and easy
to use, it will be a success.

As for its fate vis-a-vis personal heli¬
copters and rocket mail? Well, I suppose
that’s left for a columnist to write about
sometime well into the twenty-first
century. ■

Brock N. Meeks is a San Diego-based
freelance writer who specializes in high
technology. You can reach him on BIX as
brock. ”

Your questions and comments are wel¬
come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, One
Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH
03458.

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 147

KMM.YSIS£.

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. s

III

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r cl

1 1

B v-‘=.--.»- BMMBgg

shar 'a*bl, a. [A.Sax. scearu, a portion]: The ability to
let everyone in your company have their own personal
computing environment without having to buy hundreds
of PCs.

The dramatic improvement in personal pro¬
ductivity through the use of personal computers
hasn’t come without a substantial price tag.
Buying and maintaining a PC for every user can
make a real dent in the data processing budget.

But the simple fact is,
the typical business PC
is used less than 3 hours
a day.

Now there’s a simple,
economical way to get the
most out of your existing
PCs and give every user the
personal computing envi¬
ronment they want. It’s
called Personal Data Pac
technology. From Tandon.

This innovative technol¬
ogy consists of a portable
30MB Winchester disk
pack that is both small
and rugged, called the Personal Data Pac, and
an external drive receptacle called the Ad-PAC.
The total package will cost you less than $1,000.00.

Provide your users with Data Pac technology
and several can share a single system. And
still keep their personal data personal. PCs could
even be configured differently for different
applications. Users would simply work at the
system that fits their needs.

Installing an Ad-PAC is as simple as plugging
the controller card into an expansion slot of
any AT-compatible personal computer and con¬
necting the cable. The Personal Data Pac inserts
into the Ad-PAC as easily as a VCR cassette.

The Personal Data Pac provides the perfor¬
mance of a fixed Winchester: With an effective
access time of less than 40 milliseconds, it
has the fastest data throughput of any removable
mass storage in recent tests.

And removability
doesn’t mean loss of reli¬
ability. The Data Pac can
withstand up to 250G
of shock—twice as much
as other removable
Winchesters—thanks to
Tandon’s patented
clamping mechanism
which locks the heads
away from the disk surface.

If you still need addi¬
tional processing power
after all your PCs are
Ad-PAC equipped, Tandon
has the answer. The
Tandon PAC 286.. .a powerful AT-compatible unit
with two built-in Data Pac receptacles.

Find out how your PCs can become more
shareable. See your Tandon dealer today or call
us at 1 - 800 - 556 - 1234 , Ext. 171 (In California
1 - 800 - 441 - 2345 , Ext. 171).

We 're redefining

personal computing.

The Tandon Ad-PAC

GSA# GSOOK87AGS6049 OPT1

Pricing and information correct at presstime. Tandon reserves the right to vary prices and specifications
at any time without notice. Tandon is a trademark of Tandon Corporation.

Circle 292 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 293)

OCTOBER 1988 • BYTE 149

Now that the best name in
CAD is this affordable,why
setde for a generic brand?

What’s in a name? When it comes to the
Autodesk name, a lot. In fact, it’s the best¬
selling, most well-respected name in the CAD
business. There simply is not another company
with the credentials to make that claim.

That’s why you shouldn’t settle for any¬
thing less than AutoSketch,® the best way to
get started in CAD. AutoSketch is the precision
drawing tool from the Autodesk family of prod¬
ucts. Not only is AutoSketch priced at just
$79.95,* but unlike some entry-level CAD prod¬
ucts, you don’t have to keep spending more to
add the features AutoSketch already has. Stan¬
dard features like boxes, circles, stretching, mir¬
roring and rotating—to mathematical precision.
And advanced CAD capabilities like dynamic
PAN and ZOOM and automatic dimensioning
and scaling, in up to 10 working layers.

Of course, if you do want to move up from
AutoSketch at some point, your files can easily
be uploaded into AutoCAD.®

AutoSketch runs on IBM® PC/XT ,M /AT®and 100%
compatible computers, and supports IBM’s PS/2.™
So if you’ re ready for CAD, why not go with the
name that rates highest among both critics and
users? Anything else is, well, second-rate.

To order AutoSketch call 1-800-223-2521.

For the name of your nearest AutoSketch
Dealer or for more in¬
formation, call 1-800-
445-5415 Ext. 1 or
write to AutoSketch,

2320 Marinship Way,

Sausalito, CA 94965.

AUTODESK, INC.

Circle 26 on Reader Service Card

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FIRST IMPRESSIONS ■ Rick Grehan and Tom Thompson

Turbo C and Turbo
Pascal get upgrades, but
the big news is an
assembler and a debugger

B orland International is well
known for its low-cost line of
development languages: Pascal,
Basic, Prolog, and C. But up to
now, if you really needed to get down
close to the silicon by using assembly
language or debugging your wayward
masterpiece of code when it sporadically
crashed, you had to look elsewhere. No
longer: Borland has closed this breach by
introducing a high-speed assembler and
a powerful stand-alone debugger. If that
isn’t enough, the company has upgraded
its premier development languages—
Turbo Pascal and Turbo C—with built-
in source-level debuggers.

The Turbo Assembler and Turbo De¬
bugger are entirely new. Being a lowly
assembler, TASM operates more or less
in a line-oriented environment; happily,
it operates noticeably faster than other
assemblers. The Turbo Debugger is pos¬
sibly Borland’s best release of this group.
Like TASM, the debugger boasts support
for the complete line of 80x86 processors
and 80x87 coprocessors.

Turbo C 2.0 and Turbo Pascal 5.0 fea¬
ture their usual integrated development
environment, which consists of the com¬
piler itself, a WordStar-style program
editor, and source code debugging capa¬
bilities. Both compilers make use of ex¬
panded memory, provide faster floating¬
point emulation, have in-line assembly
language support, and support the new
stand-alone debugger. If you shun this
integrated environment in favor of a pro¬
gram editor that you’re comfortable
with, each Turbo language also provides
a command-line-interface version.

Borland Beefs Up
Its Languages

Sound familiar? Yes, Microsoft’s Quick
languages give you the same option.

Turbo C 2.0

Turbo C 2.0, like its predecessor, sup¬
ports every conceivable memory model:
tiny, small, medium, compact, large,
and huge. It now supports the long dou¬
ble data type and adds new raise and
signal functions. The raise function
signals a hardware exception, and the
signal function lets you respond to the
exception, either by two predefined han¬
dlers or by your own handler. The edit
buffer makes use of the Expanded Mem¬
ory Specification (EMS), freeing an ad¬
ditional 64K bytes of RAM to compile
and debug a program. An asm keyword
lets you add assembly language state¬
ments directly into your C code. To use
this feature, though, you’ll need TASM,
since Turbo C generates an assembly
language file rather than a linkable ob¬
ject code file when you use this option.

Turbo C 2.0 comes on six 360K-byte
5 *4-inch floppy disks and requires 448K
bytes of RAM and MS-DOS 2.0 or high¬
er. It sells for $149.95. (Contact Borland
International, 1800 Green Hills Rd.,
P.O. Box 660001, Scotts Valley, CA
95066, (800) 543-7543 or (408) 438-
8400.) We installed a beta version of the
2.0 compiler on an Epson Equity 11 +
with a 10-MHz 80286 processor, 640K
bytes of RAM, and a 30-megabyte hard
disk drive. Turbo C has no installation
program: You copy the contents of the
floppies to your hard disk, or just the li¬
braries you need. Borland also sells
Turbo C Professional, a $250 package
with Turbo C 2.0 and the new assembler
and debugger.

When you start Turbo C, it looks a lot
like Microsoft’s QuickC: It has a menu
bar, and you can access the menus and
menu items with one or two keystrokes.
The most immediate difference between
version 2.0 and version 1.0 is the new
Break/Watch menu, which is quite simi¬
lar to QuickC’s Debug menu. It lets you

set and clear breakpoints as well as set
“watches. ” A watch is a display of a vari¬
able’s contents, and the display is dy¬
namically updated as the program runs.

The built-in debugging facilities,
which operate identically for both Turbo
C and Turbo Pascal, are easy to use and
powerful (see photo 1). Pressing F7 sin¬
gle-steps you through the program source
code, line by line. On a color monitor, a
bright bar of color highlights the state¬
ment being executed. You can set a
breakpoint by stepping the program to
the statement of interest and selecting
Toggle Breakpoint from the Break/
Watch menu. The source code statement
thus selected is highlighted in a color dif¬
ferent from that of the other statements, a
nice touch if you’re plodding through a
lengthy trace. Or, you can move the edi¬
tor cursor to the target statement and
select Go to Cursor from the Run menu.

With the Break/Watch menu, you can
also examine the contents of arrays and
structures by means of a watch. The con¬
tents of the target variable are displayed
and are updated as their contents change.
You can have the watch variables dis¬
played in a particular format, such as
hexadecimal, decimal integer, real,
character, Boolean, and pointer.

We used BYTE’s C compiler bench¬
mark to compare the performances of
Turbo C 1.0 and 2.0. This benchmark is
the source code to XLisp and consists of
24 files. It’s compiled with the large
model option. Turbo C lets you define
and build “projects” that reference
multiple source code files, so we set up
an XLISP.PRJ file. Turbo C 2.0 com¬
piled the project in 2 minutes, 5 seconds,
versus the 2 minutes, 40 seconds re¬
quired by Turbo C 1.0. The preliminary
documents for version 2.0 claim that it’s
about 10 percent to 30 percent faster than
its predecessor. The BYTE benchmark
pegs it at 21 percent. We also compiled
the source code for the Sieve, Sort, and
Fibonacci benchmarks that were used to

continued

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 151

BORLAND LANGUAGES

evaluate Microsoft C 5.1 (see “Micro¬
soft Languages Update,” April BYTE).
We were pleased to see that Turbo C ac¬
cepted the processor-specific int86x()
function, used to extract elapsed ma¬
chine time, as coded for Microsoft C.
The version 2.0 benchmarks ran as fast
as those for 1.0, except for the Fibonacci,
which ran 2 seconds slower.

Turbo Pascal 5.0

Like Turbo C 2.0, the Turbo Pascal 5.0
editor can make use of EMS memory. It
features the ability to generate programs
larger than 64K bytes; has new built-in
procedures such as Inc( ) and Dec; and
supports several new data types, includ¬
ing longint, shortint, word, and the
IEEE floating-point formats. It also of¬
fers compatibility with Turbo Pascal 3.0
and 4.0. An inline statement has been
expanded: Formerly you could insert in¬
line assembly language statements with¬
in Pascal source code using this key¬
word, but now you can declare entire
procedures or functions to be of type in¬
line. These functions then act like
macro expansions: Every time the proce¬
dure/function name is encountered, all
the assembly code within it will be di¬
rectly inserted into the Pascal program.

Priced at $149.95, Turbo Pascal 5.0
comes on either three 360K-byte 514-
inch disks or two 720K-byte 3 Vi-inch
disks. The package requires MS-DOS

2.0 or higher, one floppy disk drive, and
448K bytes of RAM for the integrated
environment or 256K bytes for the com¬
mand-line interface. We installed a beta
version of Turbo Pascal 5.0 on the same
Epson Equity II + that we used to test
Turbo C. Turbo Pascal does come with
an installation program that asks you
several questions and then prompts you
for the disks. The compiler’s source-
level debugger is the same as Turbo C’s.
The $150 Turbo Pascal Professional ver¬
sion, with the assembler and debugger, is
also available.

For performance measurements, we
compiled the source code for the Pas¬
cal/S compiler. For comparison, we did
the same using Turbo Pascal 4.0. This
also tested the claimed compatibility to
older versions of Turbo Pascal, since the
MS-DOS implementation of Pascal/S in¬
cludes a Turbo3 unit. Both 5.0 and 4.0
compiled the 2074-line program without
errors in about the same time: 4.8 sec¬
onds. Next we compiled the p-code inter¬
preter for the Pascal/S program and used
the newly created Pascal/S compiler to
compile two example programs. We then
ran the resulting p-code with the inter¬
preter program. Both the interpreter and
the programs ran without problems.

TASM 1.0

One of TASM’s high points is support for
the 80x86 processor family, namely the

Fl-Hclp F5-Z00A F6-S*itch F7-Irace F8-Step F9-H«ke Fie-Hcnu

File Edit Run Coup He Project Options Debug Break/uatch

Toggle breakpoint Ctrl-F8
Clear all breakpoints
Uiew next breakpoint

if (j > RASTER.SIZE i

raster JmTf er l i ji j j, d : 255

raster_buffer[il,x: i 0x7F, OxFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0x6, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0,
pixel: ' '
pixel count: A
j: 3
i: G

Photo 1: Turbo C’s built-in debugging facilities highlight the statement being
executed. At the bottom , you can see variables that are being “watched” and their
contents. You can examine the contents of an array row, or an individual cell in the
array. Also note that you can specify the output format of the displayed data.

8088/8086, 80186, 80286, and 80386.
(For the 80386, though, it has no pro-
tected-mode environment similar to the
one that’s provided by Phar Lap’s
RUN386.) TASM also recognizes copro¬
cessor op codes for the 8087, 80287, and
80387. TASM runs on IBM PC compat¬
ibles with MS-DOS 2.0 or higher and
256K bytes of RAM. The assembler is
sold in a single package with the new de¬
bugger for $149.95.

If you activate the /JJUMPS command¬
line option (or use the JUMPS directive),
TASM performs automatic jump sizing.
This means that when the assembler en¬
counters a conditional jump whose target
is out of range, the assembler will recode
the jump as a conditional branch around
a nonconditional full-segment jump. So,
if you have automatic jump sizing acti¬
vated and TASM encounters JNZ TARG
and determines that TARG is out of the
jump range, it will emit

JZ $+5
JMP TARG

since the destination of an unconditional
JMP instruction can be anywhere within a
64K-byte segment.

TASM is equipped with the STRUCT
and RECORD directives, mechanisms for
defining complex data structures. These
directives are available in the Microsoft
Macro Assembler (MASM) as well, but
TASM adds the UNION directive for de¬
fining a single location as having multi-
typed access (this is similar to C’s
union). For example, the definition

W0RD0RBYTE UNION
BYBYTE DB ?

BYWORD DW ?

W0RD0RBYTE ENDS

LOCATION W0RD0RBYTE < ?, ? >

lets you reference LOCATION as either a
word or a byte. So, you could use MOV
[LOCATION.BYBYTE] ,255 as well as MOV
[LOCATION.BYWORD] ,30000 to store a
value into LOCATION.

Perhaps TASM’s biggest feature is the
information contained in its 580-page
user’s manual. In these pages you’ll
find—among other things—a helpful tu¬
torial on the pitfalls of programming in
assembly language. The tips range from
the absurdly simple (e.g., forgetting to
return to DOS), to the mistakes we all
make when we’ve worked late into the
night (e.g., reversing operands, such as
entering MOV DX,AX when you really
meant MOV AX,DX), and on up to the
fiendishly subtle (e.g., forgetting that,

152 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

BORLAND LANGUAGES

after a string-manipulation instruction
using a REP prefix, the SI and DI regis¬
ters are left pointing one element away
from the last address processed).

We were also impressed by the chap¬
ters on interfacing assembly language to
Borland’s Turbo C, Turbo Pascal,
Turbo Basic, and Turbo Prolog. Each
section covers parameter-passing con¬
ventions, register-passing conventions,
and coping with processor segmentation.

We tested a beta version of TASM
using the source code for the 8088 ver¬
sion of BYTE Small-C, which consists of
four files ranging in size from 28K bytes
to 65K bytes. Table 1 shows how TASM
fared against MASM 5.0. As you can
see, TASM is an average of 2.5 times
faster than MASM.

We also used the Turbo Linker,
TLINK, to create the executable code for
the Small-C compiler. This required that
we link the TASM-generated object files
together with the run-time library file,
which we had created some time ago with
Microsoft’s library manager. TLINK
readily accepted the run-time file, and
we had a running version of BYTE
Small-C in much less time than it had
taken before.

Turbo Debugger

Now that you have all these languages so
you can grind out code to your heart’s
content, the next requirement is obvious:
a debugger to fix all the mistakes you’re
sure you won’t make.

The Turbo Debugger proudly contin¬
ues the tradition of Borland windows that
we’ve seen in the company’s other lan¬
guage products. The debugger defines
two kinds of menus: pull-down menus
for activating major functions whose
contents are typically static, and pop-up
menus for entering information. (Macin¬
tosh programmers will see the similarity
with the Mac’s pull-down menus and dia¬
log boxes.) Although the Turbo Debug¬
ger does not have a built-in editor, you
can configure it to fire up your favorite
editor from a pop-up menu when you’re
in the midst of a debugging frenzy.

Another powerful feature of the de¬
bugger is that it’s polyglot; it lets you
perform source-level debugging on
Turbo C, Turbo Pascal, and TASM pro¬
grams. Borland says that support for
Turbo Basic will be added in a future re¬
lease. The capabilities of the debugger in
source mode are quite extensive, particu¬
larly in that you can perform expression
evaluation operations in the high-level
languages from within the debugger. If
you’re working on a Turbo C program,
you can enter complete C expressions

(including functions), even while debug¬
ging within an assembly language rou¬
tine that your C program has called. This
is powerful stuff, since you can view the
contents of a memory location cast as you
might use it in a C expression. For exam¬
ple, (long far #) 0x4000: :14 lets you
view the contents of memory location 14
in segment 4000 hexadecimal as though
it were a far pointer.

For Turbo Pascal, the debugger can
evaluate the language’s full syntax with
the exception of string concatenation and
set operators. Finally, Turbo Debugger
can evaluate the complete assembler syn¬
tax when you’re debugging TASM pro¬
grams. You can even modify executables
created by Microsoft LINK to work with
Turbo Debugger.

To run Turbo Debugger, you need
DOS 2.0 or higher, 384K bytes of RAM,
and an 80-character screen. Borland rec¬
ommends that you have a hard disk drive,
though the company says that a dual¬

floppy system works fine. If you want to
use Turbo Debugger on one of Borland’s
other language products, you’ll need the
following versions: Turbo Pascal 5.0,
Turbo C 2.0, or TASM 1.0.

When you activate Turbo Debugger, it
loads the program to be debugged, opens
the module window, and positions a
pointer to the start of the file. From here
you can move around in the source code,
set breakpoints and watchpoints, and do
much of what you can in the integrated
source-level debuggers described al¬
ready. What’s new is that you can open
Turbo Debugger’s CPU window and
step down a level into the real insides of
the system.

The CPU window is made up of five
components, called “panes.” The code
pane shows assembly language instruc¬
tions intermixed with their generating
high-level expressions (if you’re debug¬
ging the output of a high-level language).

continued

Table 1: Test results show that TASM easily outperforms Microsoft's MASM

on the benchmarks. All times are in seconds.

Filename

TASM

Microsoft

Source file

1.0

MASM 5.0

(bytes)

CC1.ASM

7.24

18.53

65,128

CC2.ASM

5.34

13.17

44,318

CC3.ASM

7.03

18.93

65,323

CC4.ASM

4.33

9.42

28,043

File View Run Breakpoints Data llindou Options

cs:801B E8580A call jjunode | e:

scgbpc88.2108387 IPTR=00000 OPCODE=00O OPTR=80000'
cs:001E Valid ST(8) 3.1415926
scgbpc88.2 Valid SKI) 2.718281B28

- Enpty ST(2)

4DB7:8000 Enpty SI(3)

4BB7:0008 Enpty SK4)

4DB?:001O Enpty SK5)

4DB?:0018 Enpty SK6)

- Enpty ST(7)

F2-Bkpt F3-Close F4-Here F5-Zoon F6-Next F?-Trace F8-Step F9-Run Fie-itemi

Photo 2: Turbo Debugger's numeric coprocessor window lets you dive into your
system’s floating-point unit (in this case , an 80387). Notice that you can enter
numbers directly into the coprocessor’s registers.

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 153

BORLAND LANGUAGES

Inside the stack pane you can see the con¬
tents of the word at the current stack
pointer, as well as one word above and
below.

The data pane displays a hexadecimal
dump of a selected region of memory.
Typically, you use the data pane to watch
blocks of memory in your data segment
for activity, but you can set this pane to
view anywhere in system memory. You
can also alter the data pane’s display for¬
mat to be hexadecimal bytes, hexadeci¬
mal words, long hexadecimal integers
(the C long data type and the Pascal
longint type), 8-byte decimal integers
(the Pascal comp type), short floating¬
point numbers (scientific notation), 6-
byte real numbers, 8-byte double num¬
bers, or 10-byte extended floating-point
numbers.

The registers pane provides a continu¬
ously updated display of the CPU regis¬
ters, while the flags pane shows the state
of each of the CPU’s flags. And yes, if
you select either the registers or flags
pane, you can muck around with the pro¬
cessor’s internals all you want.

Each pane has its own pop-up local
menu. For example, in the code pane’s
local menu, you can select the FOLLOW
command to see where a jump instruc¬
tion will go if the jump is taken. You
might also be debugging inside a subrou¬
tine and want to know what function
called that subroutine; use the CALLER
command.

If you’ve got a math coprocessor in¬
stalled in your system, Turbo Debugger
will sense its presence and let you acti¬
vate a numeric coprocessor window (see

photo 2). This window is similar to the
CPU window in that it lets you probe the
internals of the floating-point unit; you
can examine and interactively modify
the floating-point registers, as well as the
coprocessor’s status and control flags.
This feature is unique among debuggers.

For anyone with an 80386 system with
at least 700K bytes of extended memory,
Turbo Debugger can operate in “virtual
debugging mode.” In this arrangement,
the debugger loads itself into extended
memory and operates your program
from protected mode—which means that
whatever you’re debugging has free run
of the lower 640K bytes. It also means
that you can’t run a virtual debugging
session with software that uses the
80386’s virtual or protected modes (such
as DESQview, Windows/386, and Com¬
paq’s EMS simulator).

The Turbo Debugger’s main attrac¬
tion is its remote debugging (see photo
3). Anyone who has used CodeView to
debug a graphics program and gone daz¬
zle-happy while it flipped the screen
from mode to mode will appreciate re¬
mote debugging. Simply put, you hook
two machines together via serial ports.
One is the debugging station, from which
you execute Turbo Debugger as you nor¬
mally would. The other is the remote tar¬
get, on which the program under ques¬
tion executes, shepherded by a small
program (about 20K bytes long) named
TDREMOTE that communicates with the
debugging station. In this way, the pro¬
gram’s keyboard input and display out¬
put take place on the target, circumvent¬
ing the annoying interleave of debugger

Photo 3: Remote debugging with Turbo Debugger. The machine on the left is
executing the BYTE low-level graphics benchmark program , controlled via a serial
connection with the machine on the right running the debugger.

I/O with the debuggee I/O. This is also
handy if you’re developing a software
monster that’s too big to crowd into
memory with Turbo Debugger running
stand-alone.

The remote link can operate at three
data transfer rates: 9600 bits per second,
40,000 bps, and 115,000 bps. With a
beta version of the debugger, we ran a
quick remote session between a 4.77-
MHz IBM PC XT clone and a 10-MHz
PC AT clone and were surprised to see
that they operated flawlessly at the high¬
est data transfer rate. Borland also pro¬
vides a remote file-manipulation pro¬
gram, TDRF, that you can operate from
the debugging station to copy files be¬
tween the machines, delete files on the
target, create subdirectories on the tar¬
get, and more.

Faster Development through
Better Debugging

A lot of program development is not so
much how fast you can write code, but
how fast you can get it converted into ma¬
chine code. To that end, compiler writers
have boosted the throughput of their
compilers wherever possible. However,
what’s overlooked at times is that a sig¬
nificant part of developing a program is
making sure the code you wrote works.
It’s no good having a fast compiler if you
spend most of your time tracking down a
bug rather than writing useful code.

The Turbo C and Turbo Pascal up¬
grades are significant as good debugging
tools. As far as compilation speed goes,
the improvements are minor. However,
now you can single-step through source
code statements with a keystroke and
display a variable’s contents in any for¬
mat. With that type of debugging ability,
the performance of these development
languages has improved indeed.

The only surprise to TASM is that it
took Borland this long to create it. It has
everything you’d expect in an assembler,
and it’s faster than MASM. The docu¬
mentation is loaded with interfacing de¬
tails and probably makes the purchase
price worth it.

On the other hand, the Turbo Debug¬
ger is a pleasure to use. Its ability to con¬
nect seamlessly with other Borland lan¬
guages, along with its chameleon-like
countenance—the capability to operate
stand-alone, in virtual 80386 mode, or
remotely—should put it high on any pro¬
grammer’s shopping list. ■

Rick Grehan and Tom Thompson are
BYTE senior technical editors at large.
You can reach them on BIX as “rick_g ”
and (< tom_thompson. ”

154 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

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Circle 23 on Reader Service Card

QNX': Bend it, shape it, any way you want it.

ARCHITECTURE If the micro world were
not so varied, QNX would not be so suc¬
cessful. After all, it is the operating system
which enhances or limits the potential
capabilities of applications. QNX owes its
success (over 60,000 systems sold since
1982) to the tremendous power and flexibility
provided by its modular architecture.

Based on message-passing, QNX is radi¬
cally more innovative than UNIX or OS/2.
Written by a small team of dedicated
designers, it provides a fully integrated
multi-user, multi-tasking, networked oper¬
ating system in a lean 148K. By comparison,
both OS/2 and UNIX, written by many hands,
are huge and cumbersome. Both are ex¬
amples of a monolithic operating system
design fashionable over 20 years ago.

MULTI-USER OS/2 is multi-tasking but
NOT multi-user. For OS/2, this inherent
deficiency is a serious handicap for ter¬

minal and remote access. QNX is both
multi-tasking AND multi-user, allowing up
to 32 terminals and modems to connect to
any computer.

INTEGRATED NETWORKING Neither
UNIX nor OS/2 can provide integrated
networking. With truly distributed pro¬
cessing and resource sharing, QNX makes
all resources (processors, disks, printers
and modems anywhere on the network)
available to any user. Systems may be
single computers, or, by simply adding
micros without changes to user software,
they can grow to large transparent multi¬
processor environments. QNX is the main¬
frame you build micro by micro.

PC’s, AT’s and PS/2’s OS/2 and UNIX
severely restrict hardware that can be used:
you must replace all your PC’s with AT’s. In
contrast, QNX runs superbly on PC’s and
literally soars on AT’s and PS/2’s. You can

run your unmodified QNX applications on
any mix of machines, either standalone or
in a QNX local area network, in real mode
on PC’s or in protected mode on AT’s.

Only QNX lets you run multi-user/multi¬
tasking with networking on all classes of
machines.

REAL TIME QNX real-time performance
leaves both OS/2 and UNIX wallowing at
the gate. In fact, QNX is in use at thousands
of real-time sites, right now.

DOS SUPPORT QNX allows you to run
PC-DOS applications as single-user tasks,
for both PC’s and AT’s in real or protected
mode. With OS/2,128K of the DOS
memory is consumed to enable this facility.
Within QNX protected mode,’ a full 640K
can be used for PC-DOS.

ANY WAY YOU WANT IT QNX has the
power and flexibility you need. Call for
details and a demo disk.

THE ONLY MULTI-USER, MULTI-TASKING, NETWORKING, REAL-TIME OPERATING SYSTEM FOR THE IBM PC, AT, PS/2,

Tue HP VECTRA, AND COMPATIBLES.

Multi-User 10 (32) serial terminals per PC (AT).
Multi-Tasking 64 (150) tasks per PC (AT).
Networking 2.5 Megabit token passing.

255 PC’s and/or AT’s per network.
10,000 tasks per network.
Thousands of users per network.
Real Time 3,200 task switches/sec (AT).

Message Fast intertask communication

Passing between tasks on any machine.

PC-DOS

Cost

Standard Kernighan and Ritchie.

Single PC, networked PC’s,
single PC with terminals,
networked PC’s with terminals.
No central servers. Full sharing
of disks, devices and CPU’s.

PC-DOS runs as a QNX task.
From US $450.

Runtime pricing available.

For further information ora free demonstration
diskette, please telephone (613) 591-0931.

Quantum Software Systems Ltd. • Kanata South Business Park *175 Terrence Matthews Crescent • Kanata, Ontario, Canada • K2M1W8

Circle 218 on Reader Service Card

QNX is a registered trademark ol Quantum Software Systems Ltd.

UNIX is a registered trademark of AT & T Beil Labs. IBM, PC. AT, XT and PS/2. PC-DOS and OS/2 are trademarks of International Business Machines. HP and Vectra are registered trademarks of Hewlett-Packard Company.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS ■ Steve Apiki and Stanford Diehl

A graphical interface
and network support
carry OS/2 well beyond
the traditional
DOS environment

A ll the pieces are starting to fall
into place for OS/2, and the
nearly completed system is be¬
ginning to look pretty impres¬
sive. In addition to the primary benefits
of multitasking and seemingly limitless
program memory, the Standard and Ex¬
tended Edition 1.1 versions of OS/2 offer
features that enhance usability, add
functionality, and even point to a new
standard for both user and programmer
interfaces.

One of the most eagerly awaited fea¬
tures of DOS’s heir apparent is the Pre¬
sentation Manager, a graphical user in¬
terface scheduled to be included with
Standard Edition 1.1 and released this
month.

The LAN Manager, slated for release
with Extended Edition 1.1, adds network
support to the communications and data¬
base management capability of the cur¬
rent Extended Edition.

Together, the two programs represent
a new direction in operating-system de¬
sign: tight integration of a consistent user
interface with functions currently found
only in applications packages.

Presentation Manager

The phrase most often used to describe
the Presentation Manager is “Windows¬
like,” but the comparison is understated.
From the user’s point of view, the Pre¬
sentation Manager is Windows, except
now you’re working on the system level
and can access both applications pro¬
grams and the operating system itself.

Presentation

Manager

and LAN Manager

Users familiar with either Windows or
the Macintosh should have no trouble get¬
ting up to speed with the Presentation
Manager’s point-and-click interface.

The Presentation Manager is actually
a shell program that can be enabled or
disabled using the PROTSHELL command
in the OS/2 CONFIG.SYS file. With Stan¬
dard Edition 1.1, you have the option of
using either the standard OS/2 interface
or the Presentation Manager.

At boot-up, you’re presented with two
windows: the Task Manager and the
Start Programs window. These are spe¬
cial operating-system windows that con¬
trol the session and cannot be removed.
Together, these windows replace the Ses¬
sion Manager found in the original incar¬
nation of OS/2, although that is some¬
thing of an oversimplification—the Start
Programs window allows you to begin
new tasks, and the Task Manager allows
you to switch between them.

Within the Start Programs window is
a list of tasks that can be started by point¬
ing and double-clicking with the mouse
or by choosing Start from the Program
submenu on the menu bar. Two task
choices are always in the main list: OS/2
Command Prompt and OS/2 Windowed
Command Prompt. Selecting these lets
you enter commands at the DOS-like
[C: ] prompt, either in full-screen mode
or within a window.

You can also select DOS Command
Prompt to work in the DOS compatibility
mode, but, as always, you are limited to
one real-mode session. Adding programs
to the list in the window is as easy as
bringing up a dialog box and specifying a
name and a path to an OS/2 executable
file. Tasks can be grouped in the Start
Programs window, and you can switch
easily from group to group.

The task list also contains two system
control programs: The PM Control Panel
and the PM Filing System. The Control
Panel gives the user control over system
parameters, such as port configurations,
screen colors, fonts, and country infor¬

mation (such as currency, date format¬
ting, and numbering conventions).
Choosing the Filing System brings up a
powerful file-management facility: It
allows you to navigate through a direc¬
tory tree, moving, copying, and deleting
files—and subdirectories—using just the
mouse. You can group files by associa¬
tion, change file attributes (read-only
protection, archive status), and sort files
using the Filing System.

The Task Manager contains only tasks
that are currently running. Switching be¬
tween active tasks can be done through
this window or by selecting the task win¬
dow with the mouse. You can also close
or terminate active-task windows. The
menu bar for the Task Manager offers
other commands that can be used to shut
down the system or to arrange windows
on the screen. The shut-down choice can
be used to save currently active tasks so
that they will restart on boot-up. The file
information is simply saved in START¬
UP. CMD.

The Role of the API

Using applications in the Presentation
Manager may be simple and intuitive,
but writing them is a very different story.
Programmers with Windows experience,
like users, will feel much more at home
than those used to the plain vanilla DOS
environment. Even application develop¬
ers just getting comfortable with OS/2
kernel programming will have to throw
out much of what they know to work
within the Presentation Manager shell.
Of course, programs using the OS/2 ker¬
nel functions for I/O (functions begin¬
ning with the VIO, KBD, and MOU pre¬
fixes) should run from a windowed
command prompt with no adjustments,
but they will not take advantage of the
Presentation Manager’s consistent
graphical interface.

Application programs are insulated
from direct contact with users by the Pre¬
sentation Manager’s Application Pro-

continued

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 157

PRESENTATION MANAGER AND LAN MANAGER

[SWAPPER

OS/2 windowed eonnand line

Ctrl+Esc 1 Program Selector

CD:\]cd siudeu

[D:\SIUOEUltype sieue
sieue.obj : sieue.c

cl -c -B1 \pbin\dl.exe -W2

sieue.exe : sieue.obj sieue.def
link sieue, /align:16, /«ap,

CD:\SIUDEU3_

slibc7.1ib os2

Presentation Manager's graphical interface provides user-friendly multitasking.

gram Interface. The API is the underside
of the Presentation Manager, providing
all applications with a consistent inter¬
face in the same way that the topside pro¬
vides a consistent interface to the user.
From the program’s point of view, there
are only three kinds of output and one
kind of input. The application can write
either text, graphics, or dialogue infor¬
mation to a presentation space. The pre¬
sentation space can be associated with
devices (screen, printers, etc.) by the ap¬
plication. Input to the program comes
from one source only: a message queue
where the API posts messages to the pro¬
gram about user actions.

Four different types of devices can be
associated with a presentation space.
There are screen, memory, metafile, and
device contexts, which allow you to ac¬
cess output hardware without resorting to
application-specific device drivers. Of
course, the screen is used for almost all
program output, but sending data to a
printer can be done using the same
screen-display code; the application
merely needs to associate the presenta¬
tion space with a different device con¬
text. While graphics and text can be writ¬
ten to any device, dialogue information
(which creates an interactive dialog box)
can be written only to the screen display.

All program input comes through the
message queue. Each window on the
screen has its own queue, which contains
information specific to that window. For
example, when the user resizes a window
using the mouse, the Presentation Man¬

ager posts a message in the window’s
queue letting it know that its frame has
been resized and it must update its
display. Similar messages are posted
when the window is moved, minimized
(reduced to a bit-map icon), or termi¬
nated. Messages are processed by the ap¬
plication in sequential order. Windows
can also send messages to each other; a
good example is a scroll-bar window re¬
laying user-selection information to the
window containing the text to be
scrolled.

The message-based software architec¬
ture makes writing Presentation Man¬
ager applications very much like writing
applications for Windows. A Presenta¬
tion Manager application must begin by
registering a window class and drawing a
window. Next, it must create a message
queue for itself. Most of the application’s
time is spent in a simple message-pro¬
cessing loop like the following:

while (WinGetMsg(hab,msg,
filter,first,last))

WinDispatchMsg (hab,msg);

A quit message in the queue causes Win-
GetMsg to return a value of 0, dropping
the program out of the loop. Any other
message is processed by a window proce¬
dure, the real meat of the application.
The window procedure is generally built
around a structure like the C switch
statement, where each message is han¬
dled by its own section of code.

What allows these programs to be

written in a high-level language at all is a
huge assortment of standard functions
and definitions, provided only (for now)
by Microsoft’s Software Development
Kit. The functions, though readily iden¬
tified (WinEnableWindowUpdate) will
take any non-Windows programmer a
while to become comfortable with. The
header files and the window-handling
routines also add a high overhead to any
program; the source code for a Presenta¬
tion Manager “Hello World” program
can be 3.2K bytes long, and even a care¬
fully linked “Hello” executable can be
over 1 IK bytes.

LAN Manager: The Missing Link

Certainly, the release of the Presentation
Manager is a major step in the develop¬
ment of IBM’s Systems Application Ar¬
chitecture (SAA). The ultimate goal is a
standardized interface for both user and
programmer, from application to appli¬
cation and from machine to machine.
Helping to reach that goal are powerful
operating-system utilities that behave to¬
ward the user like any other application.
The latest of these is the LAN Manager,
another key piece to the OS/2 puzzle.

While the Presentation Manager links
OS/2 to the user, the LAN Manager as¬
pires to a loftier goal: to link users to
each other. Touting the promise of multi¬
tasking and transparent resource shar¬
ing, OS/2 stalks a domain once consid¬
ered the exclusive province of powerful
mainframe computers. Personal com¬
puters already pack the hardware punch
necessary to meet the challenge; only the
software gap holds them back. For the
most part, the computer community
shares the OS/2 vision. We only disagree
on which standard will emerge. Now, fi¬
nally, Microsoft lays its cards on the
table.

The LAN Manager offers an interface
much like the Presentation Manager’s,
with a system of hierarchical menus
forming the user interface and the under¬
lying API interfacing with OS/2. The
user interface breaks down into four
parts: the View menu, the Message
menu, the Config menu, and the Status
menu. The administrator can also access
a fifth menu for system maintenance. A
separate interface for console servers
uses the same menu structure with op¬
tions limited to sending messages and
monitoring activity.

The user can also drive the LAN Man¬
ager directly from the command line.
This not only allows batch files to auto¬
mate command sequences, but it also en¬
sures compatibility with other PC net¬
working products such as PC-NET and

158 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

PRESENTATION MANAGER AND LAN MANAGER

MS-NET. Microsoft, again, tries not to
leave DOS behind in its grand scheme of
connectivity. The LAN Manager runs in
protected mode when linking to shared
resources. But once connected, it can
switch to the DOS environment to run
MS-DOS applications.

While the user clicks through the
friendly menus, the API churns away be¬
neath the surface. In fact, many times the
user won’t even realize just how hard the
API works. The API persistently strives
for the dual goal of smooth operation and
total transparency. If the user tries to
send a message before loading the mes¬
senger module, the API loads it. Or sup¬
pose the user tries to access a remote disk
without first connecting to the server.
The LAN Manager will automatically
start a session to the server, issue a Net
Use command to access the shared disk,
validate user-access level by submitting
the user name and password specified at
network start time, and then proceed
with the user’s original request. The
user, meanwhile, sees only the response
to the original request, completely obliv¬
ious to the API’s work. The API will
even try to reestablish a disconnected
session if the user issues a command
after losing the link.

DOS workstations also benefit from
this intuitive interface. Workstations
running Microsoft Networks version 1 or
2 cannot specify a user name or a group
name—a necessary input to the LAN
Manager servers running in user-level
security mode. However, when the
server receives the request from a DOS
workstation, it automatically issues a
guest user account, complete with per¬
missions and passwords. If this account
conforms to the access level requested,
the LAN Manager makes the con¬
nection.

Share and Share Alike

Whether it be messages or files or physi¬
cal devices, a LAN’s principle purpose
is to let users share common resources.
As a LAN Manager administrator, you
decide who shares which resources, as
well as when and how they are shared.
Using the Add Share command button
from within the View menu, the admin¬
istrator can select the resource to be
shared, assign a share name, designate a
drive and path if necessary, limit the
amount of users who can access the re¬
source, issue a password, and determine
how the resource can be used.

In the case of shared printers or com¬
munications devices, the LAN Manager
establishes a queue to route requests
through the network. The administrator

Status Accounts

Your username:

— Microsoft OS/2 LAN Manager 1.8 -

USER Administering:

SSSERUER

Your computername:

SSSERUER

0 network files are

open.

- Set Server Configuratio

Server '‘k eoark: Utet Connect -r V* • 3 j

Sehd lefts to: IBtjteMay 1

Auto iseonnect timeout:U20 1

t 1 User Security

Amount of e©ory:125b IK

1X1 Audit Trail

Max sets : 132-..-3

\ 1 Hidden Server

v - ■_ • - ; . ' :

t 1 Run Service

1 1 nstall Server

IX! Print Spooler

m Admin Alerter

—.

v Cancel >

-—--

Install and configure server

LAN Manager’s menu structure makes it easy to set system parameters.

can add, delete, and reconfigure the
queue, thereby retaining complete con¬
trol over system requests and device ac¬
cess. The administrator can also estab¬
lish pools of devices and route jobs to the
first available device in the pool. The
LAN Manager further enhances device
access and priority routing by permitting
more than one queue to send requests to a
particular device or device pool. A series
of queues, each assigned a different pri¬
ority level, waits for an available device.
Priority levels allow time-critical jobs to
take precedence over those jobs assigned
to a lower priority. Jobs with identical
priority levels are processed FIFO (first
in, first out). Requests within a queue
can be scheduled for a specified time or
date.

The network also shares disk space.
The administrator can designate entire
directories (to include subdirectories) for
sharing or limit access to specific files.
For added security, the administrator
can determine which functions each user
can perform. Even though a number of
users may be able to access a directory on
the shared disk, some of them may only
be able to write files to the directory
while others can delete files or change
file attributes.

In addition to reading and writing
files, the user, with proper permission
from the administrator, can execute re¬
mote programs in server memory. In one
swoop, the user shares a disk, a program,
and even memory from the server. Up¬
dated files are left in the shared directory

for other users in a group to access or
modify.

The LAN Manager also includes a
messenger service so users can send and
receive messages across the network.
The administrator can send messages to a
group of users or to every user on the net¬
work. Each workstation is assigned a
message name, and messages are usually
routed via the message name, although
you may also tag a message for a specific
workstation or server by designating its
computer name. A Pop Up option enables
immediate display of a received message.
The message will flash in the message
box at the receiving workstation. Al¬
though the LAN Manager does not cur¬
rently include a text editor for message
composition, the message service will
transmit files as well as short notes, so
the user can compose a message on any
word processor and relay the file across
the network. If you wish, you can have
your messages automatically stored in
your message log.

Although further enhancements to the
LAN Manager and the Presentation
Manager will surely follow, the basic
pieces of OS/2 are in place. The concept
is grand, the structure inclusive, but the
verdict is in the hands of the users, who
must see if these final pieces of OS/2 fit
into the real world. ■

Steve Apiki and Stanford Diehl are BYTE
Lab testing editors. They can be reached
on BIX as “ apiki” and “sdiehl
respectively.

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 159

The Dell System220.

Once again the critics
stole the words right
out of our mourn.

“The Dell System220runs most PC Labs system
benchmark tests at speeds that wouldmakeyou think

you’re running a386!’

-PC MAGAZINE

“...the Dell machine is renewed evidence that the
price of286based desktop equipment continues to
drop rapidly, making such machines very attractive for
daily work under MSDOS even as they hold out the
promise of running OS/2 in the.future’.’

-WILL FASTIE, PC WEEK

“...includes a year’s on-site support... in theprice of the
computer. This is the sweetest support deal offeredby any
computer vendor in the industry’.’

-ERIC KNORR, PC WORLD

“The hot itemfrom a technicalpoint of view is the
System220. This machine runs a286processor at 20 MHz,
which is its major claim tofame’.’

-WILL FASTIE, PC WEEK

“...the System220has more going for it thanjust speed!’

-PC WORT n

160 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

The reviews are beginning to pour in.

And they read like a wish list for
every power user looking to exceed the
ordinary limitations of a 286 computer.

The computer everyone is praising in
such glowing terms is the Dell System 220.

The first 286 computer with a clock
speed of 20 MHz.

It’s totally MS-DOS® and MS® OS/2
compatible. Yet it sells for much less than
you may pay for a 386+ computer.

Because you buy it direct from us.

Eliminating the mark-ups and man
gins of computer stores.

We design and build every Dell
computer right here in Austin, Texas.

We put each and every one through
a comprehensive burn-in and a battery of
diagnostic tests before we ship it.

And after we ship, we give you the
best technical support you’ll find any¬
where in the computer industry

Our technicians are on the phone
from TAM to 7PM every business day.

Almost any question you may have
about a Dell system can be answered over
the phone.

And, in the rare case, that your ques¬
tion can’t be answered by an on-line tech¬
nician, well send a Honeywell Bull tech¬
nician by the next business day.

A frill year of on-site Honeywell Bull
service is included within the purchase
price of your Dell system.

Your Dell computer also comes with
a thirty-day money back guarantee.

And we back every one of our com¬
puters with a one year limited warranty
on materials or workmanship.

For more information about Dell
computers, read the reviews in the trade
press, turn the page, review our product
offerings, and call us at (800) 426-5150.

You’ll like what we have to say.

DELL

COMPUTER

CORPORATION

TO ORDER, CALL

800 - 426-5150

IN THE U.S. AND CANADA

OCTOBER 1988 • B Y T E 161

The Dell

Computer

Store*

Welcome to our store.

We believe you’ll find this an extremely
pleasant shopping experience.

Our sales staff is on hand to serve you
from 7AM to 7PM (CST) from Monday
thru Friday.

Just call (800) 426-5150 and well give
you the technical assistance and informa¬
tion you need to make sure you’re buying
the system that’s right for your needs.

Then you have the option of either
a direct purchase or your company can take
advantage of our Leasing Plan.

Once you’ve made your choice, our
Total Satisfaction Guarantee gives you
thirty days from the day you receive your
system, to decide if you are absolutely,
totally satisfied with the product.

If you’re not, simply return the system
and you’ll receive a full refund. No ques¬
tions asked.

Your Dell computer is supported by a
team of technical experts that can be reached
every business day, from TAM to 7PM (CST),
simply by calling (800) 624-9896.

In most cases, any question you may
have about your Dell system can be
answered by one of our technicians on
the telephone.

Our technicians are also supported by
Honeywell Bull service engineers who can
be sent to your office by the next business
day, should on-site service be required.

This optional service contract is avail¬
able in over 95% of the United States, with
over 1,000 engineers in 198 service locations.

We also offer a One Year Limited
Warranty * which warrants each system we
manufacture to be free of defects in mater¬
ials and workmanship for one full year.

Feel free to call or write for the com¬
plete terms of our Honeywell Bull Service
Contract, Guarantee and Warranty. Dell
Computer Corporation, 9505 Arboretum
Blvd., Austin, Texas 78759-7299.

162 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

THE NEW
20 MHz 386f
SYSTEM

310 .

The top of the line. It’s our highest
performance computer available,
faster than the IBMf PS/2! Model
80 and the Compaq! 386/20. It
runs at 20 MHz with the latest 32-
bit architecture. Since it also has
Intel’s Advanced 82385 Cache
Memory Controller, and high per¬
formance disk drives, the System
310 is ideal for intensive database
management, complex spread¬
sheet development, CAD/CAM,
desktop publishing or perfor¬
mance as a network file server.

Standard Features:

■ Intelf 80386 microprocessor
running at 20 MHz.

■ 1 MB of RAM (640K usable)
expandable to 16 MB without
using an expansion slot.

■ Advanced Intel 82385 Memory
Controller with 32 KB of high
speed static RAM.

■ Socket for 20 MHz 80387 or
Weitek coprocessor.

■5.25" 1.2 MB or 3.5" 1.44 MB
diskette drive.

■ Dual diskette and hard disk
drive controller.

■ Enhanced 101-key keyboard.

■ 1 parallel and 2 serial ports.

■ 200-watt power supply.

■ 8 expansion slots (6 available).

Performance Enhancements
(Systems 310 and 220):

■ 384 KB of dedicated RAM is
used by portions of the system
software for increased
performance.

**JLease for as low as $ 148/Month.

System 310

With Monitor & Adapter

Hard Disk
Drives

VGA

Mono

VGA

Color

Plus

40 MB-
28 ms

$4,099

$4,399

90 MB-
18 ms
ESDI

$4,899

$5,199

150 MB -
18 ms
ESDI

$5,399

$5,699

322 MB-
18 ms
ESDI

$7,399

$7,699

THE NEW
20 MHz 286
SYSTEM

220 .

As fast as most 386 computers,
at less than half the price—more
power for the money than any
other system. An 80286 system
that runs at 20 MHz, with less
than one wait state. Completely
compatible for both MS-DOS®
and MS® OS/2 applications (it
runs faster than IBM PS/2 Model
80), and with a remarkably small
footprint, the System 220 is the
ideal executive workstation.

Standard Features:

■ 80286 microprocessor running
at 20 MHz.

■ 1 MB of RAM (640K usable)
expandable to 16 MB (8 MB*
on system board).

■ Page mode interleaved memory.

■ Integrated diskette and VGA
video controller on system
board.

■ One 3.5" 1.44 MB diskette drive.

■ Integrated high performance
hard disk interface on system
board.

■ Enhanced 101-key keyboard.

■ 1 parallel and 2 serial ports.

■ LIM 4.0 support for memory
over 1 MB.

■ Three full-sized AT! compatible
expansion slots available.

■ Socket for 80287 coprocessor.

Options:

■ External 5.25" 1.2 MB diskette
drive.

■ 3.5" 1.44 MB diskette drive.

■ Intel 80287 coprocessor.

■ 1 MB RAM upgrade kit.

**Lease for as low as $85/Month.

System

220

With Monitor

VGA

Mono

VGA

Color

VGA

Color

Plus

One

Diskette

Drive

$2,299

$2,499

$2,599

40 MB-
29 ms
Hard Disk

$2,999

$3,199

$3,299

100 MB-
29 ms
Hard Disk

$3,799

$3,999

$4,099

THE
12.5 MHz
SYSTEM

200 .

A great value in a fuMeatured AT
compatible. An 80286 computer
running at 12.5 MHz, this compu¬
ter is completely MS-DOS and
MS OS/2 compatible. The System
200 offers high speed drive options,
industry standard compatible BIOS
and on-site service. As Executive
Computing said of this computers
predecessor, “If faster processing
speed and low cost are two key issues
affecting your purchase decision,
this machine might be the ideal
choice for your office!’

Standard Features:

■ Intel 80286 microprocessor run¬
ning at 12.5 MHz.

■ 640 KB of RAM expandable to
16 MB(4.6 MB*on system board).

■ 5.25" 1.2 MB or 3.5" 1.44 MB
diskette drive.

■ Dual diskette and hard disk
drive controller.

■ Enhanced 101-key keyboard.

■ 1 parallel and 2 serial ports.

■ 200 watt power supply.

■ Real-time clock.

■ 6 expansion slots. (4 available
with hard disk drive controller
and video adaptor installed).

■ Socket for 8 MHz 80287
coprocessor.

Options:

■ 512 KB RAM upgrade kit.

■ 8 MHz Intel 80287 coprocessor.
**Leasefor as low as $78/Month.

System

200

With Monitor & Adapter

Hard

Disk

Drives

VGA

Mono

VGA

Color

Plus

40 MB-
28 ms

$2,699

$2,999

90 MB-
18 ms
ESDI

$3,499

$3,799

150 MB-
18 ms
ESDI

$3,999

$4,299

322 MB-
18 ms
ESDI

$5,999

$6,299

A Full Line Of Computers With
A Full Line Of Configurations.

At Dell, we understand that
different users have different needs.
So we tailor each system to the
users individual requirements.

We offer monitors, graphics
boards, tape backups, dot matrix
and laser printers, hard disk and
diskette drives, expanded memory
boards, serial mice and more.

We also offer third party soft-
ware applications for virtually

every business application includ-
ing: accounting, communications,
desktop publishing, graphics, word
processing, integrated applications
and user training.

So when your Dell System
arrives, you can do productive
work the minute you unpack
the box.

We can build you the system
you’ve been looking for.

DOT M ATRIX PRINTERS.

PRINTER SYSTEM 800;

$699.95.

Highest resolution text and
graphics from a 24-wire dot
matrix printer.

Draft quality at 200 cps.
Correspondence quality
at 132 cps.

Letter quality at 66 cps.

Standard parallel and serial
interfaces.

Wide carriage.

OPERATING SYSTEMS.

Dell Enhanced MS-DOS 3.3 with disk cache and other utilities; $119.95.
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Circle 80 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 • BYTE 163

Product Focus ■ 80386 Clones

80386s
for the Masses

Twenty 80386-based
clones that offer
a revolutionary new
feature—affordability

Steve Apiki and Stanford Diehl

I ntel’s introduction of the 80386 chip
in 1986 set the DOS world on its ear.
It ushered in a new age, where multi¬
tasking, greater memory access, and
ever-increasing processing speed blurred
the distinction between mainframes and
microcomputers. This chip put dazzling
power at the fingertips of every user will¬
ing to shell out $5000 to $15,000 for a
Compaq Deskpro 386 or an IBM PS/2
Model 80.

Over the last year, however, the 80386
system market has grown from these elite
few to look much more like the market
for IBM PC AT clones, with offshore
vendors assembling systems and sparing
every expense. Most of these new en¬
trants are the same ones who have been
selling AT clones for years, and many of
them offer fantastic savings.

Don’t let these unfamiliar names and
logos fool you: These are real 80386s,
capable (with enough memory) of run¬
ning OS/2 or Windows/386, and of
reaching more memory than an AT ever
dreamed of. They can be hooked up to
networks and configured as multiuser
systems or used as Unix workstations.
Bargain systems they may be, but even at
these bare-bones prices, an 80386 ma¬
chine is hardly a commodity item. Every
system deserves close inspection, some¬
thing not easy to do when dealing with a
mail-order house.

For this month’s Product Focus, we

chose a group of systems selling in usable
configurations for under $3000 (see
table 1). Our minimum requirement was
that they include a clock speed of at least
16 MHz, 1 megabyte of memory, a 40-
megabyte hard disk drive, a 1.2-mega-
byte floppy disk drive, a hard disk drive
and floppy disk drive controller, a mono¬
chrome graphics card and monitor, a
101-key keyboard, a power supply, and
both serial and parallel ports. In other
words, the systems we tested had to be
fully equipped.

What surprised us was not only the
sheer number of systems meeting this re¬
quirement, but also the many optional
features available. Some companies were

able to throw in an extra megabyte of
memory, for example, or upgrade from
the usual 16-MHz system to 20 MHz. Of
course, almost all the manufacturers of¬
fer upgrades of these base systems, if
high performance is a must (see the text
box “Upgrading from Entry Level” on
page 168).

None of these machines are built
around Intel’s 80386SX, which is ex¬
pected to unleash a flood of low-cost sys¬
tems later this year. The 80386SX is a
midrange processor, offering 32-bit ca¬
pability, but with a slower 16-bit data
bus. These review systems are true 32-bit
systems, inside and out, and they rely on
mass production and low-cost compo-

164 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

nents to cut costs. All were evaluated
using the new 80386 versions of our stan¬
dard system benchmarks (see the text
box “80386 Benchmarks” on page 172).

Heart and Soul

When we sat down and started using
these systems, we got used to seeing
many of the same things: the same beige
AT case, the same amber monochrome
display, the same keyboard, and even the
same motherboard. Most of these ma¬
chines are assembled by resellers who
simply take the components and put them
in a box. The result is a hodgepodge of
drives, power supplies, and system
boards, where the only way to differenti¬

ate the systems is to take note of their
choice of subsystems.

In such an environment, the best ba¬
rometer of performance is the mother¬
board itself—the heart and soul of the
machine—which simply becomes an¬
other component. Manufacturers can and
do, however, make modifications to the
same motherboard that can result in dra¬
matic performance differences. They
can adjust the memory speed and amount
or change the clock frequency. What’s
more, some of these resold motherboard
designs are clearly superior to others.

Unlocking the power of the 80386 re¬
quires complex memory interfacing. Its
32 data lines require 32-bit memory and

Photo 1: Two affordable 80386
machines that perform remarkably
well—the Micro Express ME 386 (left)
and the Gateway 386 (right).

a 32-bit path to reach it; its 32 address
lines can theoretically access 4 giga¬
bytes, but DOS limits program space to
640K bytes. Taken together, these fac¬
tors impose restrictions on both the sys¬
tem designer and the user.

All these systems have 32-bit data
paths on the system board, but you can fit
only so much memory in the limited
physical space. The only place to add
more memory becomes the expansion
slot, where you don’t always get the full
data path. Three of the systems—the
Pacesetter 386, the Uniq 386, and the
GCH EasyData 386—rely on stuffing the
board with single in-line memory mod¬
ules (SIMMs) to conserve real estate.
Others—like the six units that share the
Micronics 08-002-201 motherboard—do
away with on-board memory entirely and
simply have expansion cards on 32-bit
slots.

The rest feature conventional memory
on-board and an option for expansion
using memory cards. Only 13 of the 20
systems tested, however, feature 32-bit
expansion slots (see table 2); for the rest,
you must fall back on 16-bit memory.

Going to a 16-bit slot halves the per¬
formance of the 80386, because it is
forced to get the first word and then the
second rather than making the 32-bit
fetch it’s capable of. At that point, your
high-priced 80386 is acting like an 8086.
Other memory performance hits occur
when a CPU makes sequential access to
the same memory bank. While the
Micronics-based systems and a few
others employ static RAM (SRAM),
most systems make use of bank-switched
dynamic RAM, where the CPU accesses
one bank while the other bank of DRAM
is refreshed. If a read or write operation

continued

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 165

PRODUCT FOCUS
80386 CLONES

Table 1: For less than $3000, all these systems offer at least a 16-MHz CPU and 1 megabyte of RAM, with a variety of
memory configurations and expansion options (• = yes; O = no).

Computer Price CPU Motherboard

Speed Waits Speed select (MHz) FPU slot

4.77

Blackship 386

$2813

16 MHz

•

287

Micronics 08-002-201 /B

Bus 386

$2800

16 MHz

•

287

Micronics 08-002-201/B

Club 386

$2724

16 MHz

0/1

•

287

Everex EV-3000A

CompuAdd Standard-386

$2705

16 MHz

•

287

FS-101

DataWorld 386

$2744

16 MHz

•

287

Micronics 08-002-201 /B

Fortran 386

$3000

20 MHz

•

287

Cache Comp 386-1001 -002

Gateway 386

$2995

20 MHz

•

287/387

Gene 386

GCH EasyData 386

$2994

16 MHz

0/1

•

287/387

GCH PCB-386-AT-16

Hertz 386

$2995

16 MHz

•

387

Intel iSBC 386-AT

Micro Express ME 386

$2954

20 MHz

0/1

•

287

AMI-386

Micro 1 Power 386/20

$2995

20 MHz

•

387

Micronics 08-011-201

PC Network THE PC 386

$2854

16 MHz

•

287

Micronics 08-002-201/A

Pacesetter 386

$2995

20 MHz

0/1

•

287/387

CompuSystems ver 1.0

Spear Mono-386A

$2500

16 MHz

0/1

•

287

Everex EV-3000A

Suntronics-386

$2785

16 MHz

•

287

Micronics 08-002-201 /A

Uniq386

$2675

16 MHz

•

287

2M 810-04

Value 386

$2831

16 MHz

•

287

Micronics 08-002-201/B

VIPC Micro 386

$2999

20 MHz

0/1

•

287/387

AMR Micro 386

Whole Earth 386

$2995

16 MHz

0/1

•

287

AMI/Mylex 386

Zeos 386 Tower

$2995

16 MHz

0/1

•

287

AMI-386

1 Memory-access times may vary with machine purchase.

2 Requires motherboard modification; otherwise, 1 megabyte.

3 S = static; D = dynamic.

is attempted twice consecutively on the
same bank, a delay is imposed on these
systems. This performance problem lies
in wait for any DRAM-based system;
only faster RAM can help.

One system feature that can do won¬
ders for processing speed is a memory
cache. Six of these systems use a RAM
cache to boost their processing power:
the Micro Express ME 386, the Zeos 386
Tower, and the Whole Earth 386, with
the AMI motherboard; Spear’s Mono-
386-A and the Club 386, with mother¬
boards much like the AMI; and the
Micro 1 Power 386/20. The cache is, in
all but one case, 64K bytes of 32-bit
SRAM, with short access times (40 to 45
nanoseconds). The Micro 1 features a
32K-byte RAM cache. The power of this
feature was demonstrated in our bench¬
marks (see the graphs on page 173),
where the top finisher overall and the top
finisher in the 16-MHz group both had
memory caches.

Most of these systems use the 384K
bytes of RAM between 640K bytes and 1
megabyte—which DOS can’t directly ad¬
dress—to relocate BIOS or video BIOS
from slow ROM (sometimes referred to
as shadow RAM). This feature did not

make a significant difference on our
benchmarks, but software that makes
frequent BIOS calls should see signifi¬
cant improvement.

Raw CPU and memory speed are, of
course, important factors that can’t be
overlooked. All these systems use the
80386 double sigma, the standard chip
with 32-bit address and data lines. While
six systems run a 20-MHz clock, only
four actually use the 80386-20. The

other two, the Gateway 386 and the
VIPC Micro 386, use the same 80386-16
as every other system and simply run it at
higher than its rated speed. Both ma¬
chines turned in good benchmark per¬
formances, but constantly running any
piece of equipment out of spec is a risky
proposition at best.

Gateway added to the performance of
its machine by including 60-ns RAM,
which placed it well within the true 20-

Photo 2: Inside
the Gateway 386:
a 20-MHz clock,
dual 80287/80387
support, and a
32-bit expansion
slot provide
power and room
for growth.

166 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

PRODUCT FOCUS

80386 CLONES

RAM

ROM BIOS

Runs OS/2
as configured

Power

supply

On-board

memory

Type 3

Access

time

Extended

memory

Max. 32-bit
memory

Cache

1 M

80 ns

10 M

None

Phoenix 386 BIOS 1.10.B2

220 W

1 M

80 ns

10 M

None

Phoenix 3.07

200 W

1 M

120 ns 1

4 M2

64K

AMI 386 BIOS

192 W

1 M

100 ns

10 M

None

Phoenix 386 BIOS1.10.B1

200 W

1 M

80 ns 1

10 M

None

Phoenix 386 BIOS 1.10.B2

230 W

1 M

80 ns

10 M

None

Award 386 BIOS c3.03

200 W

1 M

60 ns

12 M

None

Award 386 BIOS C3.03

200 W

2 M

100 ns

1 M

16 M

None

Phoenix 1.00 03

•

200 W

2.5 M

120 ns

2 M

16 M

None

Phoenix 386 BIOS 1.00.00

•

220 W

1 M

100 ns

4 M2

64K

AMI 386 BIOS

220 W

1 M

80 ns

10 M

32K

Phoenix 386 BIOS1.10.B2

200 W

1 M

80 ns

16 M

None

Phoenix 386 BIOS 1.10.B2

200 W

1 M

100 ns

8 M

None

Phoenix 386 BIOS 1.01.02

200 W

1 M

80 ns

4 M2

64K

AMI 386 BIOS

200 W

1 M

80 ns

10 M

None

Award 386 BIOS c3.03

200 W

1 M

120 ns

8 M

None

AMI 386 BIOS

200 W

1 M

80 ns

10 M

None

Phoenix 386 BIOS 1.10.B2

220 W

2 M

100 ns

1 M

10 M

None

Quadtel BIOS

•

200 W

1 M

120 ns

4 M2

64 K

AMI 386 BIOS

200 W

1 M

120 ns

4 M2

64K

AMI 386 BIOS

200 W

MHz category on our index. While mem¬
ory speed played a role in all machines’
success on our tests, the effect was out¬
weighed by caching and clock speed
more often than not.

Each reviewed machine has provisions
for changing the CPU clock speed. Most
are constantly running at a bus speed of 8
MHz to maintain compatibility with
other devices. Several have multiple
crystals on-board and are able to switch

to four different speeds.

You should consider more than speed
when evaluating a motherboard. A key
point is expandability—though 32-bit
slots are important for memory expan¬
sion, 8-bit and 16-bit slots are just as vital
for everyday cards like disk drive con¬
trollers and graphics adapters. The sys¬
tems all have between four and six 16-bit
expansion slots. On-board memory ca¬
pacity must also be considered, because

Photo 3: The

popular Micronics
08-002-201
motherboard
found in 6 of the
20 review
machines (the
Blackship 386 is
shown here).

the price of a chip set is far less than the
price of an expansion card. All machines
also include battery-backed clock chips.

While the AMI motherboard men¬
tioned earlier may well be the fastest, the
most unusual is easily the AMR Micro
386 on the VIPC Micro 386. The VIPC,
a proprietary design, includes everything
but the disk drive controller on the
motherboard, leaving all but one 16-bit
slot available for future expansion. A
serial port, a parallel port, and EGA cir¬
cuitry are built in. This saves a consider¬
able amount of money when configuring
an EGA system, but you wind up paying
for EGA even if you don’t need it. The
VIPC suffered on our benchmarks be¬
cause monochrome EGA is several times
slower than Hercules graphics.

The Difference a Drive Makes

As July’s roundup of hard disk drives
pointed out, only system clock speed af¬
fects your computer’s performance more
than drive access times. A slow disk
drive can seriously thwart the impressive
processing speed of the 80386 chip. You
cannot simply drop the chip into a system
and expect breathtaking performance.

continued

OCTOBER 1988 • B Y T E 167

PRODUCT FOCUS

80386 CLONES

Upgrading from Entry Level

J ust because you’ve decided on an en¬
try-level 80386 system doesn’t mean
you have to live with it forever. Choos¬
ing a versatile system initially can lead
to a wealth of performance-enhancing
options down the road. As with any
computer purchase, the number one cri¬
terion in selecting an upgrade path must
be its utility in performing your pri¬
mary application.

The best upgrade for calculation¬
intensive applications is a floating-point
unit. An 80287 or 80387 can, in some
cases, double your processing speed.
We ran the 16-MHz Compaq Deskpro
386 through our benchmarks—with and
without an 80287—and the difference
was striking: a score of 10.38 on our ap¬
plication index versus 8.81, and that’s
taking into account applications that
don’t access the FPU at all.

There is also a marked difference be¬
tween running an 80287 and running an
80387. Not only does the 80387 allow
for direct 32-bit communication with
the 80386, but its special hardware-im¬
plemented transcendental functions let
it calculate sines and exponentials with
ease.

To test the effect of a fast 80387 on
overall system speed, we ran the bench¬
mark suite on a 20-MHz Deskpro
386/20. The results: 17.93 when includ¬
ing the coprocessor, and 14.25 when
leaving it out. Again, the numbers fac¬
tor in applications like word processing
and databases, which perform the same
with or without the FPU.

Coprocessors let you compile and run
programs specifically made to take ad¬
vantage of 8087 code. Most FORTRAN
and C compilers include library rou¬
tines for this purpose; the alternative,
using emulator code, is not nearly as
good as the real thing. As an example,
consider the numbers earned by these
machines on our Livermore Loops and
LINPACK tests. All of them, using the
test compiled with emulation routines,
scored significantly lower than the
80287-equipped IBM PC AT. The AT
scores 0.0237 million floating-point op¬
erations per second on the Livermore
Loops and takes 1010.22 seconds to exe¬
cute the LINPACK; compare these with
the benchmark results on page 172.

Adding memory is another way to in¬
crease performance without wasting
any of your initial investment. The real
multitasking power of an 80386 can be
put to use only if you have enough space
to use it in. Adding memory above the 1-
megabyte level will let you use OS/2,
which requires 1.5 megabytes. Memory
must be at the same speed throughout
the system, and it must be added in full-
bank increments.

Unlike the standard 8-bit PC slot and
the standard 16-bit AT slot, there is no
standard for 32-bit expansion boards.
You will often need to purchase mem¬
ory boards from the same source as your
system board, and your ability to up¬
grade memory may be only as good as
the longevity of your system’s manufac¬
turer. Dynamic RAMs are not cheap,

and more and more memory is not al¬
ways the answer. If you plan to use your
80386 more as a fast AT than as a multi¬
tasking system, better upgrade choices
are available.

One of the best choices is adding a
faster hard disk drive. Drive-access
time contributes to delays no matter
what applications you run. There is a
difference, however, between adding
memory or a coprocessor and upgrading
your drive: The upgrade makes your
current hard disk drive obsolete. If you
have additional drive bays, you can con¬
tinue to use your old drive, of course,
but chances are you won’t use it often
enough to justify its original cost.

Nevertheless, the drive will probably
be the slowest subsystem on your 80386,
and a natural target for replacement.
When you choose to do so, you can
choose those with new high-speed
small-computer-system-interface or en-
hanced-small-device-interface control¬
lers that can cut average seek times from
28 milliseconds to 10 ms. These will
really accelerate the performance of
your system, but be prepared to pay
dearly for them.

Other upgrade options will, like addi¬
tional memory, affect your capability
more dramatically than they will affect
your performance. Color graphics, for
example, will let you use the speed and
power of the 80386 for CAD applica¬
tions. With a sufficiently versatile sys¬
tem, the possibilities for improvement
are almost endless.

Vendors, in an effort to stake a claim
in the inexpensive 80386 market, must
cut corners wherever possible by weigh¬
ing the trade-off between low price and
lost performance. Nowhere is that deli¬
cate balance more critical than in the
choosing of a hard disk drive. That’s be¬
cause vendors can save considerable
money by installing a bargain drive, and
they can fatally hobble their system in
the process.

Four of the systems employ the Sea¬
gate ST251-1 40-megabyte hard disk
drive (see table 2), and for good reason:
The company and the drive enjoy an ex¬
cellent reputation. The drive’s price is
one of the lowest on the market, and it’s a
solid, dependable product. Six others
opted for the original ST251, a slower
drive, and the move turned out to be par¬
ticularly bad for the PC Network THE

PC 386, which finished last on our disk
benchmarks.

Zeos, on the other hand, opted for the
Seagate ST277R, and our benchmarks
reveal that the choice was a good one. In
addition to excellent performance, the
ST277R delivers over 50 percent more
storage space, packing in 64 megabytes
of data. Despite a slow access time of 40
milliseconds, the ST277R achieves its
performance boost by employing run-
length-limited (RLL) encoding at 7.5
megabits per second. The ST251-1 uses
the same ST412 interface as the ST277R,
but it uses modified-frequency-modula-
tion (MFM) encoding at 5.0 megabits per
second. The original ST251 uses the old
ST506 interface.

While Zeos made a good choice, other
vendors did not. Uniq Technology
should have heeded our July warning.

That month’s Product Focus placed the
Microscience HH-1050 at the bottom of
the benchmark results. Unfortunately,
Uniq placed that same drive into its sys¬
tem and paid the price of poor perfor¬
mance. Those vendors selecting the Sea¬
gate ST4053 (VIPC, Blackship, and
Value) also suffered the consequences,
as all three systems placed in the bottom
half of our drive benchmarks and our
overall rating. Micro Express went with
the Priam VI50, and that drive certainly
did not hamper the system’s top-of-the-
heap performance.

Disk drive controllers also play an im¬
portant role. Since these systems are best
thought of as entry machines on which to
build, the controller should conform to
that philosophy by offering ready expan¬
sion. All the systems tested support two

continued

168 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

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computer can become a multitasking, single-
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can also single-task those DOS applications
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With DOS or OS/2, it will support one
user—for the cost of the entire system.

U nder SCO™ XEND(® 386, however, the

COMPAQ DESKPRO 386/20 becomes a powerful
multitasking, multiuser system that can run thousands
of proven XENIX applications. In full-tilt, 32-bit, 386 mode

ith SCO XEND( 386, this powerful computer can sup¬
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workstations with such blazing performance that indivi¬
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Circle 234 on Reader Service Card

IBM is a registered trademark and Personal System/2 and OS/2 are trademarks of International Business Marchines Oirporation. • COMPAQ DESKPRO 386/20 is a trademark of Compaq Computer Corporation. • SCO is a trademark of'Hie Santa Cmz Operation. Inc. • XENIX is a registered trademark of
Microsoft Corporation. • VP/ix is a trademark of INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation. D/87

® 1987 The Santa Cmz Operation, Inc.. 400 Encinal Street. PO. Box 1900, Santa Cmz. (A 95061 The Santa Cmz Operation, lid., 18 Noel Street, PO. Box 4YN. london WlA 4YN United Kingdom. +44 1 439 2911. (FAX): +44 1 637 9381. TELEX: 917372 sen t/>\

PRODUCT FOCUS
80386 CLONES

Table 2: The systems use a wide variety of disk drives , which differ substantially in performance.

Computer Controller Floppy Hard disk

Type

Access

Capacity

Blackship 386

WDC WD1003-WA2

1.2 M

ST4053

28 ms

44 M

Bus 386

LCS-6620TX

1.2 M

ST251

40 ms

42 M

Club 386

Everex EV-332

1.2 M

Micropolis 1333A

28 ms

44 M

CompuAdd Standard-386

WDC WD1003-WA2

1.2 M

MiniScribe 6053-11

25 ms

44 M

DataWorld 386

WD-1006-WAH/WD-1002 FDC

1.2 M

ST251

40 ms

42 M

Fortran 386

Ntl. Computer Ltd. NDC5425

1.2 M

ST251-1

28 ms

42 M

Gateway 386

WD-1006-WAH/WD-1002 FDC

1.2/1.44 M

ST251-1

28 ms

42 M

GCH EasyData 386

Data Technology 5280CRA

1.2 M

ST251

40 ms

42 M

Hertz 386

WDC WD1003-WA2

1.2 M

Micropolis 1323A

28 ms

44 M

Micro Express ME 386

Ntl. Computer Ltd. NDC5425

1.2 M

Priam VI50

28 ms

44 M

Micro 1 Power 386/20

WDC WD1003-WA2

1.2 M

Toshiba MK-134FA

25 ms

44 M

PC Network THE PC 386

WDC WD1003-WA2

1.2 M

ST251

40 ms

42 M

Pacesetter 386

WDC WD1003-WA2

1.2 M

ST251-1

28 ms

42 M

Spear Mono-386A

Everex EV-332

1.2 M

ST251

40 ms

42 M

Suntronics-386

WDC WA2-16

1.2 M

ST251

40 ms

42 M

Uniq386

WDC WD1003-WA2

1.2 M

Microscience HH-1050

28 ms

44 M

Value 386

WDC WD1003-WA2

1.2 M

ST4053

28 ms

44 M

VIPC Micro 386

WDC WD1003-WA2

1.2 M

ST4053

28 ms

44 M

Whole Earth 386

WDC WD1003-WA2

1.2 M

ST251-1

28 ms

42 M

Zeos 386 Tower

Adaptec 2372

1.2 M

ST277R

40 ms

64 M

Software key: a) Setup/diagnostics c) Video utilities f) Memory management

b) Disk utilities/disk management d) I/O utilities g) MS-DOS 3.30 w/GWBASIC

e) 386 utilities

hard disk drives and two floppy disk
drives. Most vendors selected the West¬
ern Digital controller (WD1003-WA2)
for the same reason that many selected
the ST251-1 hard disk drive.

The Adaptec 2372 controller boosts
the performance of RLL-encoded
drives, but using MFM encoding lets you
upgrade without buying a new controller.

National Computer Limited’s
NDC5425, the controller of choice in
two of the three top performers, also
proved a worthy product, delivering
functionality, expandability, and 2-to-l
interleave.

DataWoricT and Gateway reverted to a
dedicated hard disk drive controller
paired with a separate floppy disk drive
controller. The 1 -to-1 interleave of this
combination enabled these two machines
to finish second and third on our drive
benchmarks, just behind the Adaptec
2372/ST277R-equipped Zeos.

The Flesh and Bones

With so much emphasis being placed on
the nitty-gritty system components—
CPU, memory, and hard disk drive—the
nuts-and-bolts features that bring it all
together are often overlooked. Most

users don’t put much thought into the se¬
lection of things like monitors, key¬
boards, and cables. Sure, they are neces¬
sary, but as long as they perform the
basic functions, you’re covered.

But think about that. The keyboard
and the monitor are your direct interface
with the computer. That’s where the rub¬
ber hits the road. Though a blurry moni¬
tor or a defective keyboard might not af¬
fect basic system performance, it most
certainly will affect your productivity,
your enjoyment while working on the
computer, and, in the long run, your
overall evaluation of the product.

All the systems include monochrome
graphics cards, except for the VIPC,
which comes with an EGA on the
motherboard. With the exception of the
Bus 386’s monochrome card, all the
graphics cards also include an additional
printer port. Each card supports 720- by
348-pixel resolution and packs a 64K-
byte video buffer. The graphics cards in
the Fortran 386 and the Gateway 386
performed the best in our video bench¬
marks.

The monitors also share the same
basic specifications, although several ven¬
dors offer a 14-inch display rather than

the standard 12-inch model. However, it
was the shape of the screen, rather than
the size, that made the biggest differ¬
ence. The new flat display screens with
square corners definitely presented a
crisper image with less glare. While
GCH, Hertz, CompuAdd, and Suntron-
ics ship flat screens, we especially liked
the EverVision 14-inch flat display atop
the Club and Spear machines.

Like art and pizza combinations, the
satisfactory feel of a computer keyboard
is a matter of personal taste. In general,
though, most people prefer a keyboard
with positive tactile response and firm
recoil. All these systems include either a
101-key or 102-key layout in the En¬
hanced IBM AT style.

The feel of the keyboards covered a
wide range, from very subtle differences
to basic design differences. The Black-
ship, Suntronics, and PC Network key¬
boards all lacked that comforting feel of
positive tactile response: It’s hard to tell
when you’ve made true contact with the
keys. Fortran’s keyboard had miniature
Control and Alt keys, and it also suffered
from excessive recoil. On the other hand,
the DataWorld, Hertz, Pacesetter,
Value, Whole Earth, and Zeos key-

170 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

PRODUCT FOCUS
80386 CLONES

Video

Expansion slots

Ports

Software

Included

Board

Monitor

Size

8-bit

16-bit

32-bit

Printer

Serial

Game

DTK

Quimax

14"

a,f

MGC

Panasonic

12"

a,d

Everex

EverVision

14"

b,c,d

MG-150

Samsung

12"

a,c

Graphicsmith MGP

Samsung

12"

a,f

MGP Monochrome

Samsung

12"

a.b.f

TOP MGP

Samsung

12"

a.f.g

MGP Adaptor

X-TRON

14"

a,b

Everex

Hertz

14"

Turbo MGP

VM-1400

14"

MG-132

Samsung

12"

a,b,c,d,f

6046 MGP

Samsung

12"

a.b.f

Twinhead

Packard Bell

12"

a,e

Everex

EverVision

14"

a.b.c.d.g

MGP

Mitsuba

14"

MG-150

Samsung

12"

a,c

Hercules

Samsung

12"

b.e.f

Motherboard

Quimax

14"

a,c

C&F Here Comp

Packard Bell

12"

b,c

CT-6040T

Packard Bell

12"

b,c

boards all had the IBM-like true-click
feel.

Almost all these systems use cables
with a basic design flaw: They’re just too
darn short. This problem rears up most
flagrantly with the Zeos system because
of its “tower” configuration. This setup
lets you free desk space by placing the
unit on the floor beneath you, but the
cables were so short that we still had to
put the Zeos on the table with its monitor
and keyboard. Kind of defeats the pur¬
pose of the “tower” design, doesn’t it?
CompuAdd’s Standard-386 commits a
worse oversight by omitting a COM1
port. You can expect an immediate up¬
grade if you go with this unit.

Another oft-overlooked item is docu¬
mentation, and with these systems, clear
documentation is not a given. Most of the
vendors simply ship the manuals pro¬
vided by the component manufacturers.
This includes the woefully inadequate
hard disk drive installation manual for
those systems packing Seagate drives.
We found confusing jumper settings on
the Gateway machine, and the mother¬
board documentation did little to help.
The motherboard manual shipped with
the Uriiq system was so poorly written

that it was often incoherent.

In fact, a lack of clear and useful docu¬
mentation plagued all these systems, al¬
though the Spear Operations Manual and
the Club User’s Manual were more com¬
prehensive than most, and the Paceset¬
ter’s Technical Reference Guide dis¬
played impressive depth.

The Price of Paying Less

While these systems offer attractive
price breaks, most of the companies are
unknown quantities in the 80386 market.
Most haven’t yet built a strong track
record. If you end up spending saved
money on repair bills, enhancements, or
perhaps even another computer before
the expected life has expired, you end up
losing in the long run.

Major vendors, on the other hand, usu¬
ally have a proven track record. Good or
bad, that track record is something to go
on. It’s often a key to such factors as du¬
rability, reliability, and customer satis¬
faction. These vendors usually have es¬
tablished a network of customer support
that few minor vendors can match.
Though the minor vendors often have a
technical-support department, staffing
is usually inadequate.

Remember, also, that these vendors
had to cut costs somewhere. Just make
sure you know where the cuts were made
and what the trade-offs are. For exam¬
ple, a couple of the vendors, Gateway and
VIPC, shipped 20-MHz crystals with
16-MHz chips. The chips will run at 20
MHz, but the manufacturer will not
guarantee performance at that rate. So
it’s a gamble. You have to decide if that
kind of risk is worth taking.

Given the piecemeal structure of these
systems and their low price, you’d expect
to run into a few problems now and
again. We expected to run into a few dur¬
ing this review, but it went far beyond
our expectations. Fully 6 of these 20 ma¬
chines had problems when we first re¬
ceived them, problems that ranged from
nuisances to complete system failures.
And these are demonstration units,
which should be the cream of the crop.

Problems included BIOS fatal errors,
erratic disk failures, a nonfunctioning
serial card, and the especially annoying
keyboard with the T key not working.
Some systems were shipped with me¬
chanical problems, like a full-height disk
drive jammed into a drive bay at a 45 de-

continued

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 171

PRODUCT FOCUS

80386 CLONES

BYTE Benchmark Indexes

Computer

Conventional
benchmark results

Low-level

Application-level

UNPACK

Lvrmore

Dhry

CPU

Disk

Video

Sprd

Sci/

eng

Complr

Cum.

appr

Micro Express ME 386

1698.51

0.0125

5952

3.30

1.47

2.58

3.46

2.73

1.73

1.31

2.32

11.54

Gateway 386

2000.61

0.0107

5149

2.77

1.55

2.80

3.16

2.25

2.39

1.14

2.27

11.21

Fortron 386

2001.60

0.0102

5086

2.77

1.33

2.84

3.15

2.78

1.54

1.12

2.15

10.74

Zeos 386 Tower

2140.23

0.0094

4098

2.61

1.97

2.25

3.08

2.67

1.54

1.05

2.30

10.64

DataWorld 386

2513.00

0.0081

4061

2.20

1.52

1.64

2.76

2.34

2.15

0.90

2.14

10.29

Spear Mono-386A

2141.21

0.0095

4724

2.61

1.38

2.28

3.01

2.66

1.45

1.05

1.92

10.09

Micro 1 Power 386/20

2366.35

0.0087

4336

2.54

1.44

1.86

2.90

2.39

1.69

0.98

2.07

10.03

Club 386

2141.21

0.0099

4716

2.62

1.39

2.28

2.91

2.17

1.56

1.05

2.06

9.76

Whole Earth 386

2140.17

0.0099

4743

2.75

1.30

2.25

2.92

2.16

1.50

1.05

2.05

9.68

VIPC Micro 386

2118.10

0.0100

4766

2.91

1.33

1.90

2.72

2.46

1.54

1.07

1.90

9.68

CompuAdd Standard-386

2513.00

0.0081

4065

2.20

1.43

1.66

2.64

2.34

1.50

0.88

1.91

9.27

Pacesetter 386

2211.96

0.0097

4081

2.36

1.43

2.06

2.60

2.15

1.48

0.97

1.88

9.08

Suntronics-386

2514.00

0.0081

4065

2.20

1.23

2.33

2.62

2.15

1.44

0.90

1.83

8.93

Blackship386

2519.38

0.0085

4045

2.43

1.33

1.48

2.74

2.01

1.43

0.89

1.81

8.88

Bus 386

2513.33

0.0081

4065

2.20

1.04

1.63

2.57

2.14

1.51

0.89

1.70

8.81

Value 386

2513.34

0.0085

4065

2.20

1.22

1.65

2.66

2.00

1.32

0.90

1.85

8.74

GCH EasyData386

2569.08

0.0083

4065

2.42

1.34

1.84

2.45

2.00

1.50

0.90

1.90

8.74

PC Network THE PC 386

2513.00

0.0085

4065

2.20

0.93

1.63

2.54

1.97

1.43

0.91

1.83

8.67

Uniq386

2544.00

0.0074

4115

1.87

1.26

1.50

2.47

1.91

1.45

0.82

1.78

8.44

Hertz 386

2898.97

0.0075

3396

2.03

1.32

1.57

2.09

1.61

1.32

0.82

1.75

7.59

'Cumulative application index. Graphs at right are based on indexes and show relative performance.
Indexes show relative performance; for all indexes, an 8-MHz IBM PC AT= 1.

All low-level benchmarks were generated using the 80386 version (1.1) of Small-C (32-bit integers).

For the Livermore Loops and Dhrystone tests only, higher numbers mean faster performance.

For a full description of all the benchmarks, see "Introducing the New BYTE Benchmarks," June BYTE.

80386 Benchmarks

B YTE is taking this opportunity—
the first roundup of affordable
80386 systems—to introduce our
80386-specific low-level benchmarks.
I’ve modified the code-generation por¬
tion of BYTE Small-C for MS-DOS to
emit 80386 code compatible with Phar
Lap’s 386|ASM, 386|LINK, and
RUN386 combo package. The most im¬
portant addition? It’s 32-bit integers, of
course. As you peruse the benchmark
results, be aware that the Sieve, Sort,
and Matrix programs, calculated into
the CPU indexes, are now manipulating
32-bit integers, pointers, adds, sub¬
tracts, multiplies, and divides, and an
addressing capability that cracks the
64K-byte barrier.

We’re also generating two additional
figures with the String Move bench¬
mark: doubleword-odd and doubleword-
even. Recall that String Move clocks

Rick Grehan

the time required to move blocks of data
from one memory location to another,
and that it moves the bytes one at a time
(byte-wide) and two at a time (word¬
wide). The new version reports the ad¬
ditional figure for 4 bytes at a time
(doubleword-wide). Also, depending on
the processor’s data bus width and the
system’s memory hardware, moving a
word from odd address to odd address
can turn in a significantly different time
(usually a worse result) than moving a
word from even address to even address.
The same holds true for doubleword
moves.

Though none of these systems include
a floating-point unit, I’ve modified the
floating-point coprocessor library—
which originally assumed only an 8087
coprocessor—to take advantage of new
instructions within the 80387. (We’ve
also developed an 80287 library that

we’ll bring on-line soon.) You’ll see the
most noteworthy performance boosts in
the benchmarks involving transcenden¬
tal functions. Specifically, the 80387
has a single instruction for calculating
the sine (on the 8087, you had to derive
the sine from the tangent), and calculat¬
ing the exponent requires fewer instruc¬
tions than for the 8087 and the 80287.

We’ll be using the 80386 version of
the benchmarks for all upcoming 80386
machines. As usual, we’ll be making
the source code for the 80386 version of
Small-C and the updated benchmark
programs available in the public domain
(see page 3 for details). If you have any
suggestions or comments, we’d like to
hear them.

Rick Grehan is a BYTE senior technical
editor at large. He can he reached on
BIX as “rick_g. ”

172 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

PRODUCT FOCUS
80386 CLONES

LOW-LEVEL PERFORMANCE

APPLICATION-LEVEL PERFORMANCE

^ CPU Q Disk Q Vi

Video

Micro Express ME 386
Gateway 386
Fortran 386
Zeos 386 Tower
DataWorld 386
Spear Mono-386A
Micro 1 Power 386/20
Club 386
Whole Earth 386
VIPC Micro 386
CompuAdd Standard-386
Pacesetter 386
Suntronics-386
Blackship 386
Bus 386
Value 386
GCH EasyData 386
PC Network THE PC
Uniq 386
Hertz 386

Compaq 386/20
Compaq 386s
Compaq 386/16

11.54*

11.21

10.74

10.64

10.29

10.09

10.03

9.76

9.68

9.27

9.08

8.93

8.88

8.81

8.74

8.67

8.44

7.59

8.81

14.25

9.35

] Word processing Spreadsheet Database

] Scientific/engineering Compiler

•Cumulative application index. Graphs are based on indexes at left and show relative performance. All tests were done without an FPU.

Figure 1: The Micro Express ME 386 and the Gateway 386, with 20-MHz 80386s, finished tops. Of systems with 16-MHz
80386s, the Zeos 386 Tower and the DataWorld 386 are on top. Fourteen systems finished higher on the benchmarks than a 16-
MHz Compaq Deskpro. Compared to the Compaq 386s, all had a higher CPU index, and half had a higher application index.

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 173

PRODUCT FOCUS
80386 CLONES

Company Information

Blackship Trading Co.

385 Oyster Point Blvd., Suite #10
South San Francisco, CA 94080
(415) 952-1994

Inquiry 898.

Micro 1

557 Howard St.

San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 974-5439

Inquiry 908.

Bus Computer Systems

135 West 26th St.

New York, NY 10001
(212) 627-4485

Inquiry 899.

New PC Network

625 Academy Dr.

Northbrook, IL 60062
(312) 205-1300

Inquiry 909.

Club AT, Inc.

3401 West Warren Ave.

Fremont, CA 94589
(415) 683-6600

Inquiry 900.

Pacesetter Systems

7130 Fire Lane Rd.

Columbia, SC 29233
(803) 736-0673

Inquiry 910.

CompuAdd Corp.

12303-G Technology Blvd.

Austin, TX 78727
(800) 627-1967

Inquiry 901.

Spear Technology, Inc.

710A Landwehr Rd.

Northbrook, IL 60062
(312) 480-7300

Inquiry 911.

DataWorld, Inc.

3733 San Gabriel River Pkwy.

Pico Rivera, CA 90660
(213) 695-3777

Inquiry 902.

Suntronics Co., Inc.

12603 Crenshaw Blvd.

Hawthorne, CA 90250
(213) 644-1140

Inquiry 912.

Fortron Corp.

2380 Qume Dr., Suite F

San Jose, CA 95131
(408) 432-1191

Inquiry 903.

Uniq Technology, Inc.

1120 Stewart Ct., Suite G

Sunnyvale, CA 94086
(408) 736-7440

Inquiry 913.

Gateway 2000

P.O. Box 2414

Sioux City, IA51107
(800) 233-8472

Inquiry 904.

Value Plus Distributing

900 Larkspur Landing Cir., #165

Larkspur, CA 94939
(415) 461-0811

Inquiry 914.

GCH Systems, Inc.

845 West Maude Ave.

Sunnyvale, CA 94086
(408) 733-2131

Inquiry 905.

VIPC Computers

384 Jackson St., Suite #1

Hayward, CA 94544
(415) 881-1772

Inquiry 915.

Hertz Computer Corp.

325 Fifth Ave.

New York, NY 10016
(212) 684-4141

Inquiry 906.

Whole Earth Electronics

2990 Seventh St.

Berkeley, CA 94608
(415) 653-7758

Inquiry 916.

Micro Express

2114 South Grand Ave.

Santa Ana, CA 92705
(714) 662-1973

Inquiry 907.

Zeos International

530 Fifth Ave. NW, Suite 1000

St. Paul, MN 55112
(612) 633-4591

Inquiry 917.

gree angle, or motherboards installed so
close to the edge of the case that the
flange on the expansion cards wouldn’t
fit in the slot. Not all terribly serious
problems, but they do indicate a general
lack of quality control in some of these
systems.

The Best for Less

Looking at these systems made us re¬
member the true meaning of the word
“clone.” At first look, none of them
stood out from the rest. With so many
common components and identical fea¬
tures, we thought picking the best would
be impossible. Luckily, a few of the sys¬
tems shucked the “cheap” label and dis¬
played an admirable mix of performance
and quality. A couple of the systems went
a step further, emerging as truly excep¬
tional buys.

It’s one thing to compare these sys¬
tems to one another and find outstanding
performance; it’s quite another to look at
them in reference to the rest of the 80386
arena and find the same thing. The sys¬
tems we’ve rated highly here give good
account of themselves, even against
Compaq’s big guns. In fact, all but six of
these machines finished higher on our
benchmarks than a similarly equipped
16-MHz Deskpro.

While none were able to touch the
overall performance of the Deskpro
386/20—with its high-speed enhanced-
small-device-interface disk drive con¬
troller and dedicated cache controller—
the top finishers were able to come much
closer than their prices would indicate.
And what of the 386s, Compaq’s
80386SX-based machine? Every last one
of these review machines earned a better
CPU index than the 1.86 assigned to the
386s.

Superior subsystems also became ap¬
parent. Our benchmarks demonstrate the
superiority of the AMI-type mother¬
board: The three AMI systems and the
two very similar EV-3000A-equipped
systems made up half of the top 10, re¬
gardless of the other system parameters.
The AMI does, however, have signifi¬
cant drawbacks: A low memory ceiling
and a lack of 80387 support will hamper
future upgrades. On the other side of the
coin, the common Micronics 08-002-201
motherboard was installed in systems ac¬
counting for 6 of the bottom 10. For a
full accounting of the performance in¬
dexes, see page 173.

Often, the choice in memories comes
down to a trade-off between size and
speed. The Hertz 386, though very slow,
does come with 2.5 megabytes of mem-

continued,

174 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Insist
On The Best
Micronics
Motherboards

Innovation

and

Performance

MICR#NICS

uality,

Performance
and Innovation

best describe our 80386
based board level product
line. Now with both AT and Baby size and
high speed CACHE memory.

Micronics is the leading supplier to OEMs,
VARs and Systems Integrators that require
the best in 80386 technology.

For a distributor near you, call

COMPUTERS INC.

800 / 234-4386.

Circle 168 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 175

WHY TRUST OUTSIDERS
WITH THE MSK
OF YOUR EC COMPUTER
ORPRMTER.

NEC Customer Engineering and
its authorized dealers offer you the
highest quahty service
because we know
your NEC equip¬
ment best. NEC
has a wide range
of service options,
high quahty parts, and comprehensive main¬
tenance contracts. Call us, and find out about
the many ways NEC Information Systems takes
care of its own.

Service Excellence Through People, Pride and Professionalism SH

1-800-325-5500 NEC

CaC ...-

Computers For The Blind

Talking computers give blind and visually impaired
people access to electronic information. The question
is how and how much?

The answers can be found in "The Second Beginner's
Guide to Personal Computers for the Blind and Visu¬
ally Impaired” published by the National Braille Press.
This comprehensive book contains a Buyer’s Guide
to talking microcomputers and large print display
processors. More importantly it includes reviews,
written by blind users, of software that works with
speech.

Send orders to:

National Braille Press Inc., 88 St. Stephen Street
Boston, MA 02115, (617) 266-6160

NBP is a nonprofit braille printing and publishing house.

PRODUCT FOCUS
80386 CLONES

ory. The Hertz was able to run memory-
hungry OS/2 as configured, a trait
shared only by the EasyData 386 and the
VIPC Micro 386. Our test for OS/2 com¬
patibility was a simple one, running
three simultaneous processes from
Microsoft’s OS/2 demonstration disk.
No times were recorded. We did have
some video problems when running
OS/2 on the VIPC, and we could not get
it to run successfully using the on-board
EGA. The company assured us that it had
no problems running OS/2 on similar
units, and we did get it to work using an
external Hercules card.

All manufacturers claim Windows/
386 compatibility. We were unable to test
this, though, because Windows/386 ver¬
sion 2.0 does not include a Hercules
driver, and version 2.1 was not shipping
as of press time.

Beyond the raw benchmark results, we
looked at many factors when evaluating
these systems. We considered the appar¬
ent quality of the overall product, the
performance of the subsystems, the gen¬
eral look and feel, and the reliability of
operations. Even so, it is hard to ignore
the impressive performance of the Micro
Express ME 386 on our benchmarks. It
not only excelled on our low-level tests,
especially the CPU index, but it also
blazed by the other machines when con¬
verting that low-level capability to prac¬
tical applications. Churning along at 20
MHz, it posted an application index of
11.54, good enough for top honors.

However, when evaluating the whole
package, the Gateway 386 surpasses all
the others. Coming in a close second on
our application index, the Gateway deliv¬
ers speed without sacrificing features: a
16-MHz chip running at 20 MHz, 60-ns
RAM, a 1.44-megabyte 3^2-inch floppy
disk drive to accompany the standard
1.2-megabyte 5 Va -inch floppy disk
drive, an extra serial port and a game
port, DOS 3.30 with GWBASIC, and
sockets for both the 80287 and the 80387
coprocessors. The system ran without a
glitch, although we would prefer to see a
true 20-MHz chip under the hood. We
were truly surprised to see a system of
this caliber selling for less than $3000.

It’s a testament to the state of the
80386 market. You don’t have to wait for
the unveiling of the 80486 or for prices to
drop on the hybrid 80386SX to get an
80386 at a reasonable price. The shake¬
out has arrived. The clones are here. And
they can get the job done. ■

Steve Apiki and Stanford Diehl are testing
editors for the BYTE Lab. They can be
reached on BIX as “apiki ” and “sdiehl. ”

176 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

EQUITY II PLUS

• 1.2 Meg Floppy

• 40 Meg Hard Disk

• 640K Ram

• Serial/Parallel/C/C

• 80286 CPU

• Monochrome Monitor

• Graphic Card

• MS DOS

• GW Basic
In order to provide the best service,
EPSON EQUITY Is

exclusively sold on location.

EQUITY 1+

• 360K Floppy

• 20 Meg Hard Disk

• 640K Ram

• Serial/Parallel Port

• Monochrome Card

• Monochrome Monitor

• MS DOS

• GW Basic

$1295
EQUITY 111+

• 80286 CPU 6-8 12 MHz

• 1.2 MEG Floppy

• 40 MEG Hard Disk
DOS 3.2 Mono Monitor
& Graphic Card

$2195

LOW

PRICE

LEADER

SINCE 1983

Everex

Step 286 - 12 & 16 MHz

1 Meg RAM
Set up utility in ROM
S/P, C/C

Enhanced keyboard
1.2 MB floppy
DOS/BASIC

Everex

Step 386-20 MHz & 16 MHz
256K cache of very high speed RAM

2 Meg RAM, expandable to 16 Meg

S/P, C/C SCall

Enhanced keyboard
1.2 MB floppy
DOS/BASIC

SCall for
your

configuration

camPAa

386 130 meg/20 MHz.6495

286 40 meg.2395

386 40 meg/16 MHz.4195

386 60 meg/20 MHz.5650

Portable III 40 meg/12 MHz.4195

CARD & MONITOR EXTRA

PS/2 model 30/20 meg.1775

PS/2 model 50/20 meg.2595

PS/2 model 60/40 meg.3395

PS/2 model 60/71 meg .4100

PS/2 model 80/40 meg.4595

MONITOR EXTRA

LAP-TOP

Toshiba 3200-40.3695

Toshiba 3100-20 . Call

Toshiba 1000. Call

NEC Multispeed .1395

NEC Multispeed EL.1595

EPSON LT. Call

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OKIDATA

EVEREX

TOSHIBA

NEC

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PRINCETON GRAPHICS AMDEK PC MOUSE IRWIN & ARCHIVE
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ACER SAMSUNG LOGITECH TAXAN

HOUSTON INSTRUMENTS CALCOMP MITSUBISHI

Macintosh

Mac-SE/20 Meg.2595

Mac-ll/40 Meg.3795

ARCHE RIVAL 386

10/20 MHz, 1.2 floppy, 2 MB RAM
Monochrome.$2995

SOFTWARE

Microsoft Word.239

Word Perfect 5.0.249

Lotus 1-2-3.297

dBase 111+.385

AND MANY, MANY MORE!

SPECIALS
of the Month

Microsoft Mouse ...$109

Microsoft Excel.$309

Aldus Pagemaker.. .$479

AST

AST 386 model 340 .

.4395

AST 286 model 80.

.1695

AST 286 model 120.

.Call

AST 286 model 140.

.2695

CARD & MONITOR EXTRA

EPSON®

PRINTERS

Epson FX850/1050 .. .$379/535
Epson LQ850/1050 .. .$559/785
Epson LQ500/2500 .. $359/895
Epson LX800/EX800 . $199/445
Epson LQ2550 .$970

CITIZEN

PRINTER

180D/15E .$179/385

MSP40/45 .$299/439

MSP50/55 .$399/509

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Circle 67 on Reader Service Card

OCTOBER 1988

BYTE

177

S CSystems

Serving Computer Buyers For
Eight Years

1 - 800 - 669-9933

Para Asistirle En Espanol
Llame Al Tel 1-800-8^2-1777

PANASONIC

KXP1091I

Printer

SAMSUNG

12" Flat Amber
Monitor

LOGITECH

C7 Mouse
W/Plus Software

$199 $82 $68

HARDWARE SOFTWARE

ACCESSORIES

CopyllPC Brd Deluxe.$ 99

Masterpiece +. 95

COMPUTERS

SCSystems
Series 88
XT Computer

Slide Case Top w/upfront
keylock, turbo button/led,
reset button. 150 watt power
supply, 360K drive, 477-
10MHz, 640K. Phoenix Bios,
AT style keyboard, Limited
one year warranty.

$565

AST Premium/286

Model 120.$2279

Model 80 . 1629

Model 140X .2479

BOARDS

AST Adv Prem lmb.$ Call

AST 6 Pac Prem lmb. 525

ASTSixpac. 115

Hercules Grph +..... 182

EGA BOARDS

ATI EGA Wonder.$175

Genoa SuperHi Res+. 195

Orchid Designer. Call

Paradise 480. Call

Paradise VGA +XT. Call

Paradise VGA Prof. 385

Vega VGA. 269

EGA MONITORS

Princeton U/Sync.$ 529

NEC Multisync 2 . 589

Samsung. 359

HARD DRIVES

Seagate 125 w/cont.$ 321

Seagate 138 w/cont. 411

Seagate 30MB w/cont. 294

Seagate 20MB w/cont. 269

MICE

Logitech .$ 68

MS Bus Mouse . 99

MODEMS

Hayes 1200 .$ Call

Hayes 1200B. Call

Incomm RPC1200. 62

Incomm RPC2400. 147

Incomm T1200 . 76

Incomm T2400 . 167

Incomm T2400EC. 224

MONITORS

Amdek 410.$ 145

Princeton MAX 15. Call

Samsung RGB. 215

Samsung Amber. 82

3COM

3C503 ELink II. $345

3C523 ELink/MC . 432

PRINTERS

Citizen

120D.$ Call

180D. 199

MSP-15E. 319

MSP-40. 285

C.Itoh

ProWriter C715. 925

NEC

P2200. Call

Okidata

Call on all models.

Panasonic

1080I/M2..... 164

1091I/M2. 199

10921 . Call

Star

NX-1000. 179

NX-1000 Color. 234

NX-15. Call

Toshiba

321SL. 500

341SL. 674

351SX.1005

ACCOUNTING

DacEasy 3.0.$ 54

DacEasy Bonus 3.0. 110

Dollars & Sense. 95

Managing Your $. 117

COMMUNICATION

Carbon Copy Plus.$ 106

CrossTalk XVI . 89

CrossTalkMK4. 115

PC Anywhere 3. 98

SmartCom II. 82

DATABASE

Clipper.$ Call

Data Perfect. 282

DBase III. 375

DBXL Diamond. 109

Fox Base +. 190

Paradox 2.0 . 430

Q and A. 188

Relate & Report. 100

DESKTOP PUBLISHERS

Pagemaker 3.0 .$ Call

PFS First Pub. 2.0. 70

Ventura. 495

GRAPHICS

Chartmaster.$ 199

Generic Cad 3.0..... 51

Harvard Graphics... 272

Printshop. 33

Signmaster. Call

INTEGRATED

Ability Plus.$ 139

First Choice. 87

LANGUAGES

MS QuickBasic.$ 60

MS Quick C . 60

Turbo Basic . 59

Turbo C. 59

Turbo Prolog 2.0 . 89

SPREADSHEETS

Lotus 123.$ Call

Quattro. Call

Surpass. 329

VP Planner Plus. 87

UTILITIES

CopyllPC.$ 18

Desqview. 71

Duet. 48

FastbackPlus. 88

Form tool. 52

Mace. 48

Norton Advanced . 72

Norton Commander 2.0 . 43

PC Tools Deluxe. 36

Sidekick Plus. 117

Sideways Print. 39

WORD PROCESSING

Rightwriter.$ 49

Sprint. H 7

Word Perfect 5.0 . 219

Wordstar 2000 . Call

XY III Plus. 275

Call For Items Not Listed

SC Systems

205 S. 29th St., Phoenix, AZ 85034

Order Line 800-669-9933 Espanol 800-842-1777

Status Line 602-275-1395 FAX No. 602-273-0043

Order Line for Europe & Mexico 602-275-1395

Jfn R H l HLH^, 0 ( h C i' ar9e '.° r y isa or Mastercard. w ® d0 not charge your card UNTIL WE SHIP your order. Manufacturers warranty applies in all cases all warranties are
handled by the manufacturers. We accept Purchase Orders from authorized companies only, for 3.5% above cash price No COD orders No refund on oDened softwarp
m , ° c h han 9 e ' A ^ 0W 14 ^' or P^onal/company checks. Arizona orders add 6.7% tax. Add 2% for shfppfng plus $2 00°Sr hIndlina !$4 0n

minimum). Please call for shipping charges on all Canada and International orders. We do not guarantee compatibility. All returns are subject to a 20% restocking fee.

178 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Circle 255 on Reader Service Card

System Review

Dell’s System 310
proves that top-notch
performance doesn’t
have to come at
top-shelf prices

John Unger

Bucking
the System

VGA monochrome monitor and a 28-
millisecond 40-megabyte hard disk drive
for $4099. My review unit included 2
megabytes of RAM, a 20-MHz 80387
coprocessor, a 1.44-megabyte 3 1 /2-inch
floppy disk drive, a 90-megabyte en-
hanced-small-device-interface (ESDI)
hard disk drive, and a high-resolution
VGA color monitor. This brought the
grand total for my system to $7000.

M aking a 20-MHz 80386-
based microcomputer run at
its maximum potential re¬
quires more than a 20-MHz
CPU: The entire suite of hardware com¬
ponents has to interact efficiently. Such
optimized performance was obviously a
prime consideration when Dell’s engi¬
neers designed the System 310.

The System 310 is a solid, high-per¬
formance 80386 computer that’s a prime
contender for the title of fastest 20-MHz
80386 machine. But that’s not all; the
machine’s excellent performance comes
at a price that’s well below that of compa¬
rable systems.

The System 310 is available in a vari¬
ety of models that share the same basic
hardware. Each has a 20-MHz CPU, 1
megabyte of RAM, a 1.2-megabyte 5 Vi-
inch floppy disk drive, and a VGA card.
The entry-level model also includes a

Performance Credentials

A Chips & Technologies 20-MHz 80386
chip set underlies the System 310’s basic
design. These components, integrated
with a concurrent bus architecture and
high-speed cache and main memory,
form the framework of the Dell System
310. You can set the 20-MHz 80386 CPU
to switch to 8 or 4.77 MHz when you
press the Control, Alt, and backslash
keys. The system’s expansion bus runs
independently of the CPU’s clock speed
at a consistent 8 MHz. The motherboard
also has one 32-bit memory slot, six 16-
bit AT slots, two 8-bit PC slots, and a
socket for a 20-MHz 80387 math co¬
processor.

Memory access has been optimized in
two ways. The system’s concurrent bus
architecture allows the system bus to be
effectively decoupled from the processor
bus. The CPU can then execute instruc¬
tions while the system bus is running di¬
rect memory access (DMA) cycles,
thereby speeding up operations such as
disk and memory data transfers. The
System 310 also incorporates an Intel
82385 cache memory controller and 32K
bytes of high-speed, 35-nanosecond
static RAM (SRAM), like the Compaq
Deskpro 386/20, the ALR FlexCache
20386, and other high-performance
80386 machines.

The main purpose of the cache is to
provide a fast access buffer of SRAM be¬
tween the processor and the slower, nor¬
mal dynamic RAM that makes up the
computer’s main memory. The cache

continued

OCTOBER 1988 • BYTE 179

Dell System 310

Company

Dell Computer Corp.

9505 Arboretum Blvd.

Austin, TX 78759
(800) 426-5150

Components

Processor: 20-MHz 32-bit Intel 80386
with zero wait states, switchable to 8 or
4.77 MHz; socket for 20-MHz 80387
coprocessor

Memory: 1 megabyte of 80-ns RAM,
expandable to 2 megabytes on system
board (maximum system memory is 16
megabytes); Intel 82385 cache controller
with 32K bytes of 35-ns SRAM; Phoenix
80386 ROM BIOS Plus, version 1.10 09
Mass storage: One 1.2-megabyte 5V4-
inch floppy disk drive; 40-megabyte AT-
type or 90-, 150-, or 322-megabyte
ESDI hard disk drive
Display: Monochrome, EGA, VGA
color, VGA Plus color, or VGA
monochrome monitor
Keyboard: 101-key IBM
Enhanced-style keyboard
I/O interfaces: Two RS-232C serial
ports with DB-9 connectors; DB-25
parallel port; one 32-bit memory-
expansion slot, six 16-bit slots, and two
8-bit slots

Size

6V4 x2iy a x17V2 inches; 45 pounds

Software

Microsoft MS-DOS 3.30 and custom
utilities; Microsoft GWBASIC 3.22;
Microsoft Windows/386

Options

1-megabyte SIMM upgrade: $899.95
Dell memory-expansion board with
2 megabytes: $1799.99
20-MHz 80387 math coprocessor:
$799.95

40-megabyte internal tape backup unit:
$399.95

1.44-megabyte 3V2-inch floppy disk
drive: $199.95

Documentation

167-page System 310 Owner’s Manual;
77-page MS-DOS 3.30 Enhancement
Guide; 475-page MS-DOS 3.30 User’s
Reference; 425-page Microsoft GWBASIC
Interpreter User’s Reference

Price

Base system (with one 1.2-megabyte
5V4-inch floppy disk drive, 40-
megabyte hard disk drive, and VGA
monochrome display): $4099
System with 322-megabyte ESDI hard
disk drive and VGA Plus color
display: $7699
System as reviewed: $7000

Inquiry 883.

REVIEW

BUCKING THE SYSTEM

controller holds what it thinks are the
next 32K bytes of instructions and/or
data the CPU needs and lets the CPU run
with no wait states. The chip does more
than simply control the high-speed
SRAM cache, though. It also figures out
when to load new data into the cache, and
it determines which parts of RAM are
mapped directly to the video display and
shouldn’t be put into the cache.

I don’t want to give the impression that
the System 310’s main memory is slow;
it’s not. Dell uses 80-ns RAM chips on
the motherboard, which has eight con¬
nectors for special single in-line memory
modules (SIMMs) that each hold 256K
bytes of RAM. (The system comes with 1
megabyte of RAM that takes up four of
these slots.) You can also add memory to
the system by mounting a Dell memory
card fitted with 80-ns memory chips into
a proprietary 32-bit expansion bus. Fi¬
nally, you can use standard AT-type
memory cards in the 16-bit expansion
slots. If you decide to add RAM to the
system by using the Dell bus, however,
you won’t have enough room to add a
full-length expansion card in the 8-bit
slot at the left-hand edge of the computer.
The maximum configuration for system
memory is 16 megabytes.

To make the most of the increased
memory-access performance that the
system’s interleaved memory provides,
you have to install an additional 1 mega¬
byte of RAM on the system board. Also,
if you install a proprietary 32-bit mem¬
ory-expansion card, you must add an¬
other megabyte to the standard 1 mega¬
byte to achieve the full benefits of
interleaved memory. After adding 4
megabytes of RAM to the motherboard
and the 32-bit bus, you can install an ad¬
ditional 12 megabytes of RAM by using
Lotus/Intel/Microsoft Expanded Mem¬
ory Specification memory cards in the
16-bit AT-compatible expansion slots.

You also have the option of copying the
system BIOS from ROM to a special
write-protected area of RAM located
above the 640K-byte partition. The BIOS
ROM and RAM have identical memory
addresses. A similar option for the BIOS
of an EGA or VGA speeds system and
video display performance. You can
make these options part of the system’s
setup program so that they take effect
when you boot the system. This feature
may be incompatible with future releases
of DOS or OS/2, however, so Dell made
it an option in the setup program.

Speaking of Speed

There’s only one way to describe the per¬
formance of a microcomputer like the

System 310: It flies. The machine has all
the hardware and design potential to
make it as fast as or faster than any other
20-MHz 80386 system that BYTE has
tested. The Dell machine has a slight
edge over the Compaq 386/20 in that it
uses 80-ns RAM for its interleaved mem¬
ory while the Compaq uses 100-ns chips,
and the Dell can store the instructions
from its operating-system BIOS and
video ROM chips in RAM for faster
access.

The System 310 outperforms the IBM
PS/2 Model 80 in all BYTE’s bench¬
marks. It enjoys a slight advantage over
the Compaq 386/20 in most of the tests
and is in a dead heat with the ALR Flex-
Cache 20386. The comparative bench¬
mark tests show little difference between
these three computers in terms of overall
performance, so other factors such as
price, service, or expandability may be
the distinguishing factors.

Sometimes increased performance
comes at the expense of software incom¬
patibility. However, I had no trouble run¬
ning WordPerfect 4.2 and 5.0; BRIEF
2.1; Turbo C 1.5; Quattro 1.0; Dan
BricKLin’s Demo II 1.0; and Microsoft
C 5.1. The system also ran through the
application benchmark suite without a
hitch.

While my review machine had an 8-bit
VGA board, Dell says that the System
310 will be shipping with 16-bit boards
by the time you read this. This is likely to
change the video- and graphics-oriented
benchmarks.

Expansion Options

Physically, the System 310 closely re¬
sembles other large MS-DOS microcom¬
puters. It has a 200-watt power supply,
and the front right corner has room for
three half-height drives. Only the top
two spaces are suitable for floppy disk
drives or a tape backup unit, though; the
bottom space is suitable only for a hard
disk drive because the front case covers
most of it. My system’s Mitsubishi 1.2-
megabyte 5 Va- inch floppy disk drive and
Sony 1.44-megabyte -inch floppy
disk drive fit into the top two slots.

To the left of these slots is another
storage bay that can accommodate either
two half-height hard disk drives or a sin¬
gle full-height hard disk drive. The front
case completely covers these slots. The
review system’s Control Data Corp. half¬
height 90-megabyte ESDI hard disk drive
was mounted in the bottom of this storage
bay.

The system includes eight expansion
slots. Six of them use the 16-bit IBM PC

continued

180 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Dell System 310

APPLICATION-LEVEL PERFORMANCE

Dell System 310 18.2

WORD PROCESSING

DATABASE

Xy Write 111+ 3.52

Medium Large

dBASE 111+ 1.1

Load (large)

N/A

:10

Copy

:49

Word count

:02

:16

Index

:05

Search/replace

.04

:18

List

1:03

End of document

:01

:10

Append

1:32

Block moves

:08

Delete

:01

Spelling check

:07

:47

Pack

1:18

Microsoft Word 4.0

Count

:03

Forward delete

:10

Sort

:51

Aldus PageMaker 1.0a

Load document

:07

□ Index:

2.84

Change/Bold

:19

Align right

:15

SCIENTIFIC/ENGINEERING

Cut 10 pages

:13

AutoCAD 2.52

Place graphic

:04

Load SoftWest

:34

Print to file

1:31

Regen SoftWest

Load StPauls

:07

□ Index:

3.45

Regen StPauls

:05

Hide/redraw

8:37

SPREADSHEET

STATA1.5

Lotus 1-2-3 2.01

Graphics

:16

Block copy

ANOVA

:10

Recalc

MathCAD 2.0

Load Monte Carlo

IFS 800 pts.

:11

Recalc Monte Carlo

FFT/IFFT1024 pts.

:11

Load rlarge3

Recalc rlarge3

□ Index:

4.98

Recalc Goal-seek

Microsoft Excel 2.0

COMPILERS

Fill right

:04

Microsoft C 5.0

Undo fill

1:28

XLisp compile

3:04

Recalc

:02

Turbo Pascal 4.0

Load rlarge3

:17

Pascal S compile

:03

Recalc rlarge3

:01

□ Index:

3.41

□ Index:

3.56

All times are in minutesiseconds. Indexes show relative performance: for all indexes, an 8-MHz IBM PC AT= 1.

LOW-LEVEL PERFORMANCE 1

CPU

DISK I/O

VIDEO

Matrix

3.30

Hard Seek 3

Text

String Move

Outer track

3.33

ModeO

3.92

Byte-wide

21.48

Inner track

3.33

Mode 1

3.90

Word-wide

Half platter

6.67

Mode 2

3.77

Odd-bnd.

29.10

Full platter

9.96

Mode 3

3.75

Even-bnd.

10.75

Average

5.82

Mode 7

N/A

Doubleword-wide

DOS Seek

Graphics

Odd-bnd.

21.03

1 -sector

7.42

CGA:

Even-bnd.

5.38

32-sector

19.25

Mode 4

1.46

Sieve

17.78

File l/O^

Mode 5

1.49

Sort

13.34

Seek

0.09

Mode 6

1.54

Read

0.05

EGA:

□ Index:

3.91

Write

0.80

Mode 13

3.42

1-megabyte

Mode 14

3.68

FLOATING POINT

Write

3.09

Mode 15

N/A

Math

6.08

Read

2.94

Mode 16

3.68

Error 2

0.00E+00

VGA:

Slne(x)

2.01

□ Index:

3.21

Mode 18

3.81

Error

2.00E-09

Mode 19

1.50

e x

2.23

Hercules

N/A

Error

1.00E-09

□ Index:

2.45

□ Index:

8.38

18.2

Compaq 386/20 17.9

IBM PS/2 Model 80-111 13.2

IBM PC AT 5

□

Word

Processing

□

Spreadsheet

□

Database

□

Scientific/

Engineering

□

Compilers

‘Cumulative applications index. Graphs are
based on indexes at left and show relative
performance.

Dell System 310

N/A=Not supported by graphics adapter.

1 All times are in seconds. Figures were generated using the 8088/8086 and
80386 version (1.1) of Small-C.

2 The errors for the floating-point benchmarks indicate the difference between
expected and actual values, correct to 10 digits or rounded to 2 digits.

3 Times reported by the Hard Seek and DOS Seek are for multiple seek
operations (number of seeks performed currently set to 100).

4 Read and write times for the File I/O benchmarks are in seconds per 64K bytes.

5 For the Livermore Loops and Dhrystone tests only, higher numbers mean faster
performance.

CONVENTIONAL

BENCHMARKS

UNPACK
Livermore Loops 5
(MFLOPS)

Dhrystone (MS C 5.0)
(Dhry/sec)

170.27

0.16

6596.00

Compaq 386/20

IBM PS/2 Model 80-111

IBM PC AT

□

CPU

□

FPU

□

Disk I/O

□

Video

For a full description of all the benchmarks, see “Introducing the New BYTE Benchmarks," June BYTE.

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 181

Toshiba l\T>IS\

|§|p

The bad news is, this is a quiz.
The good news is, we’re going to
make it easy.

All three of these 24-pin dot
matrix printers are versatile, rug¬
ged office-quality printers. They all
provide a variety of type styles and
compatibility with most popular
software. But there’s only one Top
Dot. And all the clues you need
to find it are right here in this ad.

Top Dot’s high performance
features include combined letter-

quality text and graphics, color
printing, and a sizzling 480 cps
draft speed.

SelectDial puts total printer control at your
fingertips.

A unique Select-Dial™ feature
gives Top Dot effortless, fingertip
control. And plug-in Intelli-Cards™
provide instant software upgrades.

Top Dot’s $1085 price is a
remarkable $400 below compara¬
ble printers. Even more remarkably,
iL includes toll-free hotline support,
a 2-year warranty, an unheard-of
full year of on-site service, and for
$25, a Quick-Start kit packed with
$150 worth of supplies, software,
documentation and more.

182 BYTE- OCTOBER 1988 Circle 269 on Reader Service Cani

And only Top Dot is available in
your choice of finish: Executive
Black or traditional Ivory.

You have to visit a dealer to buy
two of the printers on this page.
But you can get Top Dot delivered
to your door by DPS.®

Just call 1-800-637-7878, cor¬
rectly identify the Top Dot, and

Print speed
(12cpi)

COMPARISON CHART
AMT Epson Toshiba

Accel-500 LQ-2500 P351SX

Draft Mode

480 cps

324 cps

300 cps

Memo Mode

200 cps

N/A

LQ Mode

80 cps

90 cps

100 cps

Plug-in fonts

card

cartridge

Color printing

standard

N/A

optionalt

Warranty

24 mo

18 mo

On-site service

1 yr

N/A

Price

$1085

$1449tt

$1499 tt

Starter Kit

$25

N/A

t $239 tt manufacturer’s suggested list price

we’ll ship it to you. FREE* If after
30 days, the Top Dot hasn’t become
indispensable to your office, just
send it back. Otherwise, do nothing.
We’ll charge $1085 to your credit
card or bill you against your pur¬
chase order. That’s all there is to it.

And if you’re still not sure of the
answer, don’t worry. Our operators
will give you three chances to get
it right.

Quick-Start. Kit contains supplies, cable, soft¬
ware, documentation—even transparency
materials. A $150 value for only $25 with
Top Dot.

ACCEL-500

1 - 800-6377878

mb j^j r

Vcnlura Peripherals

100 Rancho Road, Suite 27
Thousand Oaks, California 91362

* Offer subject to availability and credit approval.

REVIEW

BUCKING THE SYSTEM

AT-type bus, and the other two use the
8-bit IBM PC bus. The half-length VGA
card on my machine occupied one 8-bit
slot, and a Western Digital 1007 ESDI
controller disk resided in one 16-bit slot.
The latter uses a 1 -to-1 interleave and has
a data transfer rate of 65IK bytes per
second. It includes cabling for two flop¬
py disk drives and two hard disk drives
and has power supply connectors for four
disk drives.

The System 310 has three standard
display options: VGA monochrome,
standard VGA, and VGA Plus. All use
the same VGA card and differ only in the
type of monitor included. Monochrome
and EGA displays are also available.

Paradise makes the principal very-
large-scale-integration chip on the VGA
display adapter. My review unit came
with a 14-inch Mitsubishi VGA Plus
monitor, which has a 0.31-millimeter
dot pitch. This adapter/monitor combi¬
nation gives crisp color graphics at up to
640 by 480 pixels in 16 colors and pro¬
vides high-quality text. By contrast, the
standard VGA color monitor offers simi¬
lar resolution, but at a dot pitch of 0.42
mm. The monochrome monitor displays
16 shades of gray at 640 by 480 pixels.
Unlike IBM’s PS/2 computers, the Sys¬
tem 310’s display chips are on expansion
boards, not on the motherboard.

My one complaint about the Dell Sys¬
tem 310’s hardware is that it’s noisy. The
cooling fan was louder than that in any
other system I’ve seen, and a high-
pitched tone emanated from somewhere
within the depths of the hardware.

My machine worked fine during my
evaluation, but it failed to boot during
testing in the BYTE Lab. Calls to Dell
revealed that the machine had a defective
ROM BIOS (version 1.10 08). Two new
ROM chips (version 1.10 09) failed to
solve the problem, however. Dell then
sent a new motherboard with the new
BIOS installed, and the System 310
worked fine. The company says that all
machines it has shipped to customers
have the newer BIOS chips.

Finishing Touches

In addition to MS-DOS 3.30, Dell in¬
cludes 15 enhanced utility programs that
make the operating system easier to
manage.

The utilities are more useful and eas¬
ier to use than a handful of similar public
domain or even commercial software
programs because of the uniformity in
command-line argument syntax and the
similarity of their help screens.

The System 310 includes Microsoft
MS-DOS and GWBASIC manuals and an

owner’s manual that gives clear, liber¬
ally illustrated instructions on setting up
the system. Dell also bundles Micro¬
soft’s Windows/386 software with the
System 310.

Dell sells its computers by mail order
only and has a toll-free number for tech¬
nical assistance. The support technicians
I spoke with were knowledgeable and re¬
sponded to my questions quickly. As part
of Dell’s 1-year warranty, Honeywell
Bull provides on-site service for custom¬
ers who live within 100 miles of one of
Honeywell’s 180 customer-service dis¬
patch offices, and you can extend the ser¬
vice contract for up to 4 years.

A Dollar Saved

Compared to the Compaq Deskpro
386/20 and the ALR FlexCache 20386,
the System 310 is a better value. My re¬
view unit, at $7000, is about $6000 less
than a comparably configured 386/20.
Substitute a 150-megabyte ESDI hard
disk drive and, at $7598, the System 310
is some $2000 less than a similarly
equipped FlexCache.

The only drawbacks to the System 310
were its noisy fan and the limitations on
its expansion bay configuration. You can
access only two of the five expansion
bays from the front of the case, so you
can’t install two floppy drives and an in¬
ternal tape backup unit, for example.

Do you need the kind of performance
this computer delivers? For many users,
the answer will be no. A zero-wait-state
80286 machine with a 12- or 16-MHz
CPU will give you most of the qualitative
“feel” of speed and instant response that
the System 310 gives when running ap¬
plications such as a word processor or
spreadsheet.

But others need to stay at the leading
edge of hardware and software develop¬
ment. A high-performance 80386 is a ne¬
cessity if you want to be able to move
quickly into all the generations of OS/2
as they develop or to run Unix on a
microcomputer that’s powerful enough
to let this operating system work as it
should.

For such users, the System 310 has
much to recommend it. It exhibits flaw¬
less high performance, its hardware de¬
sign and components are among the best
available, and it’s priced right. For my
money, the System 310 is the system to
beat. ■

John Unger is a geophysicist for the U.S.
government and lives in Hamilton, Vir¬
ginia. He writes graphics software and
uses computers to study the earth’s crust.
He can he reached on BIX as “junger. ”

OCTOBER 1988 -BYTE 183

HARD DRIVES

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184 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Circle 109 on Reader Service Card (DEALERS: 110)

System Review

The Odd
Couple

The Amstrad PPC640
and Epson Equity LT
portables have
little in common

Wayne Rash Jr.

The Amstrad PPC640 (left)
and Epson Equity LT (right).

T here could hardly be a greater
contrast between the Amstrad
PPC640 and the Epson Equity
LT. The PPC640 is so large that
it will fit on no lap of which I’m aware,
and it has dual floppy disk drives. The
Equity LT, which will fit on a lap, has a
floppy disk drive and a 20-megabyte
hard disk drive.

The Equity LT is by far the more tradi¬
tional of the two machines. It closely re¬
sembles other laptops, such as the NEC
MultiSpeed HD (June BYTE). The Eq¬
uity LT features a V30 CMOS processor
running at 10 MHz and 640K bytes of
RAM. My review unit of the Epson Eq¬
uity LT had a 9%- by 4 1 /2-inch backlit, su¬
pertwist, liquid crystal display (LCD)
screen with blue characters on a silver
background. It also had an internal 20-
megabyte hard disk drive and a 720K-
byte SV^-inch floppy disk drive. The re¬

view unit also came with an internal
1200-bit-per-second modem. As outfit¬
ted, this machine costs $3767.

The Amstrad PPC640, designed in the
U.K., is hardly traditional. It features an
unusual case design. It has a full-width,
IBM PC AT Enhanced-style keyboard
and a 6%- by 4 3 4-inch supertwist LCD
screen, and it runs on 10 C-cell batteries.
The system has an 8086 CPU running at
8 MHz, 640K bytes of RAM, dual 720K-
byte 3 Vi -inch floppy disk drives, and an
internal 2400-bps modem. This is a large
machine, too wide and too long to fit on a
lap—and even if it would fit, the key¬
board is hinged in such a way as to make
laptop use impossible. It is primarily de¬
signed as a portable for desktop use. This
computer will run you $1199.

There are some similarities between
the two machines, though. Both are com¬
patible with the IBM PC XT. They both
use 3 1 /2-inch floppy disk drives. Finally,
they both let you use an external monitor
so that you can avoid eyestrain in the
office.

The Epson Equity LT

If you’re planning to use a computer
while traveling, the Equity LT’s design
makes it a good choice. With the backlit
LCD screen and the hard disk drive, it’s
convenient to use on an airplane or in an
office. The relatively light weight and
slim profile make it easy to carry.

The Equity LT’s screen swings up to
reveal a modified version of the AT’s En¬
hanced keyboard. The Caps Lock key is
located next to the A, and the Control
keys are on the lower corners of the key¬
board. Across the top of the keyboard is a
string of 10 function keys, rather than the
12 found on other versions of the En¬
hanced keyboard.

A full numeric keypad is just to the
right of the alphabetic keys. Above that
are a bank of LEDs and a tiny door that
covers a group of switches. The LEDs
monitor such things as battery condition

continued

OCTOBER 1988 • BYTE 185

Amstrad PPC640

Company

Amstrad, Inc.

1915 Westridge Dr.

Irving, TX 75038
(800) 237-3116
(214)518-0668

Components

Processor: 8086 running at 8 MHz;
socket for optional 8087-2 math
coprocessor

Memory: 640K bytes of RAM
Mass storage: Two 720K-byte 3 V 2 -inch
floppy disk drives
Display: CGA or monochrome on
internal LCD or external monitor
Keyboard: 101-key full-size Enhanced-
style layout

I/O interfaces: One parallel port; one
serial port; RGB video connector
Other: 2400-bps Hayes-compatible
modem

Size

19V2 x I 6 V 2 x 4 inches (open); 12
pounds

Software

MS-DOS 3.3; SoftKIone Mirror II; PPC
Organizer

Options

None

Documentation

354-page Amstrad Portable PPC; 29-
page PPC Organizer Software

Price

PPC512 (with 512K bytes of RAM and
one floppy disk drive): $899
PPC512(with 512K bytes of RAM and
two floppy disk drives): $999
PPC640 (with 640K bytes of RAM, two
floppy disk drives, and a 2400-bps
modem): $1199

Inquiry 884.

and the disk drive activity, as well as the
current condition of Num Lock, Caps
Lock, and Scroll Lock. The switches be¬
neath the door control the appearance of
the screen, the CPU clock speed, and
whether the machine uses the built-in
screen or an external monitor.

On the right side of the machine is the
720K-byte 3 Vi -inch floppy disk drive.
On the dual-floppy disk version, there is
a companion drive on the left side; in my
review unit, the hard disk drive resided
on the left side. In the rear are connectors
for a serial port and a parallel port, a

REVIEW
THE ODD COUPLE

Epson Equity LT

Company

Epson America, Inc.

2780 Lomita Blvd.

Torrance, CA 90505
(800) 922-8911

Components

Processor: NEC V30 running at 4.77 or
10 MHz

Memory: 640K bytes of RAM
Mass storage: 720K-byte 3 V 2 -inch
floppy disk drive; 20-megabyte 3 V 2 -inch
hard disk drive

Display: CGA on internal backlit LCD or
external monitor

Keyboard: 85-key modified Enhanced-
style layout

I/O interfaces: One serial port; one
parallel port (configurable as external
floppy disk drive port); RGB video
connector; proprietary expansion bus for
modem card or memory expansion

Size

13V2 x 12 V 4 x 3 V 4 inches; 14V6
pounds

Software

MS-DOS 3.2; GWBASIC 3.2; Xtree disk
management utility

Options

Supertwist LCD screen: $299
Backlit LCD screen: $499
1200-bps modem: $299
Carrying case: $49
Cigarette lighter adapter: $29

Documentation

140-page Equity LT User’s Guide; 376-
page Equity LT MS-DOS 3.20; 404-page
Equity LT GWBASIC 3.20

Price

Equity LT with dual floppy disk drives:
$1899

Equity LT with 20-megabyte hard disk
drive and 720K-byte floppy disk
drive: $2999

System as reviewed: $3767

inquiry 885.

CGA monitor, and a power connector.
There are also a power switch and a
series of DIP switches that select the as¬
signment of the parallel and serial ports.
One switch allows the parallel port to
double as a connector for an external
floppy disk drive. If you choose that op¬
tion, however, you lose the ability to use
a parallel printer.

The carrying handle slides out from
beneath the front edge of the keyboard.
This is a handy location for carrying the
computer, but it results in a ridge directly
in front of the space bar on the keyboard.

This ridge interfered with my typing.

The Equity LT can use a reflective or
backlit LCD screen. You can remove the
LCD screen and set it aside, which
makes using an external monitor easier.
If you have an external monitor, you
could use this machine as your only
computer.

Epson includes a reference disk that
makes the Equity LT more convenient to
set up and also provides sophisticated di¬
agnostics should something go wrong.
For daily use, Epson has provided the
convenient Xtree disk management util¬
ity. Xtree supports several of the more
common MS-DOS functions through a
menu system. The Equity user’s guide is
well organized and illustrated.

Power User

The Equity LT can run on AC or internal
battery power. The AC adapter recharges
the batteries when the computer is off. A
complete recharge of the batteries, which
are composed of eight nickel-cadmium
cells, takes 12 hours.

Epson designed the screen so that the
backlighting will turn off after a user-
selected period of minutes to help save
battery power. In addition, you can turn
the internal modem and hard disk drive
on and off as required. Since modems
and hard disk drives are heavy users of
power, keeping them turned off can do a
lot to extend battery life.

In spite of all this, the batteries, when
fully charged, can run the machine only
for slightly less than 2 hours, and the
low-battery light begins flashing after
1 Vi hours. These times are based on my
use of the computer with very little hard
disk activity and with the screen back¬
lighting turned off about 80 percent of
the time.

Amstrad’s PPC640

The PPC640 seems an eccentric ma¬
chine in some ways. Its most noticeable
characteristic is its layout. It does not
look like any other computer in the mar¬
ketplace. In large part, this is due to the
full-size Enhanced keyboard that graces
the machine. It is also partly due to the
small screen located on the left side of
the machine’s top surface.

The PPC640 makes a strong impres¬
sion from the first time you open the case
and look at it. It’s wide. Counting the
comfortable plastic handle on the right
side, it’s \9Vi inches wide, as compared
to the Equity LT’s 13 Vi -inch width.

The keyboard folds out from the top
toward you. This is a full-size 101-key,
AT Enhanced-style keyboard, with

continued

186 BYTE* OCTOBER 1988

Amstrad PPC640, Epson Equity LT

APPLICATION-LEVEL PERFORMANCE

WORD PROCESSING

Amstrad

Epson

Xy Write 111+ 3.52

Med./Lrg.

Load (large)

:27

:24

Word count

:10/:74

:08/:57

Search/replace

:18/:58

:14/:45

End of document

:05/:33

:04/:24

Block moves

:31/:30

:20/:19

Spelling check

: 43/4:39

:26/3:12

Microsoft Word 4.0

Forward delete

1:23

:56

Aldus PageMaker 1.0a

Load document

N/A

:25

Change/Bold

N/A

:76

Align right

N/A

:59

Cut 10 pages

N/A

:50

Place graphic

N/A

:13

Print to file

N/A

5:35

□ Index:

N/A

1.02

SPREADSHEET

Amstrad

Epson

Lotus 1-2-3 2.01

Block copy

:23

:10

Recalc

:06

:04

Load Monte Carlo

2:55

:51

Recalc Monte Carlo

:26

:20

Load rlarge3

:42

:12

Recalc rlarge3

:04

:03

Recalc Goal-seek

:12

:10

Microsoft Excel 2.0*

Fill right

N/A

:14

Undo fill

N/A

6:28

Recalc

N/A

:05

Load rlarge3

N/A

1:12

Recalc rlarge3

N/A

:05

□ Index:

N/A

0.86

DATABASE

Amstrad

Epson

dBASE 111+ 1.1*

Copy

N/A

2:49

Index

N/A

:29

List

N/A

:28

Append

N/A

5:02

Delete

N/A

:05

Pack

N/A

3:12

Count

N/A

:24

Sort

N/A

2:31

□ Index:

N/A

0.92

SCIENTIFIC/ENGINEERING

Amstrad

Epson

AutoCAD 2.52*

Load SoftWest

N/A